Easing the Effects of T-DXd: Electronic Symptom Tracking Tested in PRO-DUCE Trial

By: Celeste L. Dixon
Posted: Wednesday, July 17, 2024

In patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who are being treated with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd), electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) monitoring systems show potential for enhancing patient quality of life. This is especially true in terms of tracking symptoms and oxygen saturation, according to Yuichiro Kikawa, MD, PhD, of Kansai Medical University Hospital, Osaka, Japan, and colleagues, who presented the results of the PRO-DUCE trial during the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 1504).

Between 2021 and 2023, in a multicenter, randomized controlled exploratory study to assess quality-of-life outcomes across 38 Japanese hospitals, the authors randomly assigned patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer eligible for T-DXd to either ePRO monitoring (n = 54) or usual care (n = 52). “ePRO monitoring involved weekly symptom and daily body temperature/oxygen saturation reports via a smartphone or computer at home,” explained the investigators. “If any symptoms exceeded the predetermined thresholds, an e-mail alert was sent to the medical staff, the ePRO was evaluated, and, if necessary, a phone consultation was provided.”

With overall patient compliance very high, mean changes from baseline scores in Global Quality of Life at week 24—the primary endpoint—showed that ePRO monitoring seemed to be better than usual care (mean difference, 8.0; P = .091). Almost all the secondary endpoints had significantly better outcomes with ePRO monitoring as well.

Role, cognitive, and social functioning were better in the ePRO monitoring arm vs the usual-care arm, (P = .028, P = .017, and P = .003, respectively). Fatigue was also significantly better in the ePRO monitoring arm (P = .034). Median time to first deterioration in Global Quality-of-Life score was 3.9 months with ePRO monitoring and 3.0 months with usual care (P = .159). There was, however, no difference between the arms in terms of nausea or vomiting (P = .889).

Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit coi.asco.org.

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

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