Single-agent temozolomide as salvage therapy in heavily pretreated metastatic sarcoma patients

Abstract

Background: Treatment options for patients with metastatic sarcoma are limited. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of temozolomide in pretreated patients with soft tissue sarcoma. Methods: We recorded the pathological, clinical, and treatment data of the patients with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma retrospectively. We evaluated the efficacy and side effects of temozolomide in this patient group. Results: This study involved 16 patients. The average age was detected as 48 (21–73) years. Six (37.5%) patients had de-novo metastatic disease at diagnosis. Primary of tumors had originated from intra-abdominal (43.7%), extremity (31.3%), head-and-neck (12.5%), and intrathoracic (12.5%) regions. The patients previously had received at least two different chemotherapy regimens (75%), pazopanib (50%) and palliative radiotherapy (31.3%). Temozolomide-related median progression-free survival time was found as 3.5 (95% CI, 2.6-4.3) months. One patient (6.3%) had a partial response, while four patients (25%) had stable disease. Nine individuals (56.3%) had grade 1–2 adverse events, while one patient (6.3%) had grade 3–4 adverse events. Conclusions: We observed that temozolomide was well tolerated but had limited efficacy in the treatment of metastatic sarcoma patients. In patients with extensively pretreated soft tissue sarcoma, temozolomide may be considered a therapeutic option as a single-agent.