Faster chemo techs raise survival in children with neuroblastoma

Chemotherapy given with shorter intervals between treatments than is conventional increases survival rates by two thirds in children with high-risk neuroblastoma, according to a study published in the Lancet Oncology February 26 issue.

The 10-year trial coordinated in six countries by scientists from the Children's Cancer and Leukemia Group, funded by Cancer Research UK, studied the effects of administering chemotherapy every 10 rather than 21 days at 1.8 times the conventional dose on 262 children with neuroblastoma, a cancer of the special developing nerve cells.

They found five-year event-free survival rates increased 12% in the group with the rapid 10-day technique and a reduction in the time taken to move on to the next stage of treatment by 55 days. Survival in the rapid treatment group was 30.2%, compared with 18.2% in the standard treatment group.