Poor treatment outcomes with palliative gemcitabine and docetaxel chemotherapy in advanced and metastatic synovial sarcoma

Contains fulltext : 200321.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The outcome for patients with unresectable or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma remains poor with few treatment options. Synovial sarcoma is a rare type of sarcoma, predominantly affecting adolescents and young adults. Following failure of first-line anthracycline-based chemotherapy, several salvage options are available. We reviewed the safety and efficacy of gemcitabine/docetaxel chemotherapy in two tertiary oncology centres. We identified patients treated with gemcitabine/docetaxel between 2004 and 2016 in a UK and a US oncology centre using retrospective pharmacy and medical records. Treatment response, toxicity and outcome data were collected. Twenty one patients were treated with gemcitabine/docetaxel, the majority as a second- or third-line treatment for metastatic disease. The response rate was 5% with a median progression-free survival of 2 months (95% CI 1.3-3.7). Toxicities reported were as expected for this chemotherapy combination. Treatment was not discontinued due to toxicity. Gemcitabine/docetaxel chemotherapy shows little efficacy in synovial sarcoma and should not be offered to this patient group outside a clinical trial context