Abstract
Purpose
Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a heterogeneous group of rare mesenchymal neoplasms, accounting for < 1% of all newly diagnosed malignancies. These tumors can occur in almost any anatomic site though they most frequently occur in the extremities. The objective of the study was to describe the epidemiology, treatment paradigm, and real-world outcomes in the clinical management of metastatic STS (mSTS) in the Middle East and North Africa (MEA) region.
Methods
MOON was an observational, multicenter, retrospective patient chart review study which included 200 patients with mSTS in the final analysis. The primary objective of the study is exploratory, so it is presented using descriptive statistics.
Results
At the time of presentation, 62.0% patients had metastatic disease, 27.5% had received only their primary diagnosis and 10.0% had experienced a local recurrence. The most frequent STS localizations were lower extremities (74%), trunk (28.5%) and upper extremities (10.5%). Primary tumor was staged as T2b in the majority (60%) of patients. Surgical treatment was performed most often for the primary disease, whereas radiation therapy and chemotherapy were predominantly administered with palliative intent. A total of 38 patients received treatment with pazopanib. Thirteen adverse events (AEs) were attributed to pazopanib in eight patients.
Conclusion
Adult patients treated for STS have al most equal gender ratio and mostly are middle aged. The majority of patients have metastatic disease and disease progression, and half of the patients died from the disease during the period of evaluation. This study obtained real-life data on the clinical management of STS in MEA countries which could be shared with the medical community.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by Novartis Pharma AG. We thank Haritha Nekkanti (Novartis Healthcare Pvt Ltd) for providing medical editorial assistance.
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BK reports being speaker or taking part in advisory board of BMS, Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche. ME reports being speaker or taking part in advisory board of Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Takeda, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, Sanofi, MSD, BMS, Astellas, and received honoraria from Astellas, Janssen, Boehringer, Roche, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, Nobel and MSD. MB reports being speaker or taking part in advisory board of Bristol Myers and Pfizer, and received honoraria from Pfizer. DH reports advisory board, speaker or grants research support from Novartis, Sanofi, Roche, Bayer, Lilly, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Clinica Group, Abdi Ibrahim Remed Pharma, Janssen, Ipsen, Leo pharma, Boehringer, Pfizer, Merck, MSD, Becker, Vygon, Pierre Fabre, and El Kendi. KE reports being speaker or taking part in advisory board of MSD, El Kendi and Pfizer. BK reports being speaker or taking part in advisory board of Sanofi, MSD, Roche, Lilly and Pfizer. CS and VP are full-time employees of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and hold stocks of the company. RA, MB, and AS have nothing to disclose.
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Memon, M.A., Karaca, B., Aboelhassan, R. et al. Middle East observational study in metastatic soft tissue sarcoma: an epidemiological study on the treatment patterns (MOON). J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 144, 2219–2229 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-018-2713-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-018-2713-6