In a nutshell
This study investigated the effect of nivolumab (Opdivo) on health-related quality of life in patients with advanced melanoma. Researchers suggested that nivolumab is associated with an increased long-term quality of survival.
Some background
Treatment of advanced melanoma has changed since the approval of new medicines, such as PD-1 inhibitors. PD-1 inhibitors, such as nivolumab, help the immune system to combat tumor cells. Nivolumab has been shown to lead to durable responses and manageable side effects in advanced melanoma when compared to dacarbazine chemotherapy. However, it is not known whether the side effects of nivolumab significantly decrease the health-related quality of life of the patient.
Methods & findings
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of nivolumab on health-related quality of life compared with dacarbazine chemotherapy.
This study included information on 418 patients with metastatic (spread to other parts of the body) melanoma. Patients were randomly assigned to receive nivolumab or decarbazine. None of the patients had been previously treated for melanoma. Quality of life of patients was evaluated at the start of treatment and every six weeks afterwards, by health-related quality of life questionnaires.
At week 25, there was a non-significant trend towards worsening quality of life in the dacarbazine group but not in the nivolumab group. Improvements occurred in patients treated with nivolumab at weeks 37, 61 and 67 in one measure of health-related quality of life. No change from baseline levels was found using other measures. No significant improvements were observed for dacarbazine patiens.
The bottom line
This study suggested that nivolumab was associated with a long-term benefit in quality of survival, in addition to the survival benefits and manageable side effects.
Published By :
Annals of oncology
Date :
Jul 12, 2016
