Trial reportCancer2012
Randomized controlled trial of acitretin versus placebo in patients at high-risk for basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (North Central Cancer Treatment Group Study 969251).
Trial report in Cancer, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00003611 (Chemoprevention Trial of Acitretin Versus Placebo in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients With Multiple Prior Treated Skin Cancers), which is not on this map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Chemoprevention Trial of Acitretin Versus Placebo in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients With Multiple Prior Treated Skin Cancers
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Retinoids in cancer chemoprevention and therapy: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Pooled it
- Guidelines of care for the management of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 2018Guideline
- Management of Skin Cancer in the High-Risk Patient.Current treatment options in oncology · 2016Pooled it
- Chemoprevention in Skin Cancer: What Advice?Cancers · 2026Review
- Chemoprevention of Keratinocyte Cancers: Could Aspirin Be the Solution?Journal of cancer prevention · 2025Review
- The evolving treatment landscape for CSCC.Archives of dermatological research · 2025Review
- Unconventional Remedies for Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Journey into Alternative Treatments.Current pharmaceutical biotechnology · 2024Review
- Review
- Immunomodulators for Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers: Updated Perspectives.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2023Review
- An update on clinical trials for chemoprevention of human skin cancer.Journal of cancer metastasis and treatment · 2023Article
- The Use of Retinoids for the Prevention and Treatment of Skin Cancers: An Updated Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Etiologies of Melanoma Development and Prevention Measures: A Review of the Current Evidence.Cancers · 2021Review
- Investigative Landscape in Advanced Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers.Current treatment options in oncology · 2021Review
- Systemic acitretin in the management of periocular squamous cell carcinoma.BMJ case reports · 2021Article
- Acitretin therapy for vulvar lichen sclerosus complicated by recurrent squamous cell carcinoma.JAAD case reports · 2021Article
- Retinoids in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Post renal-transplant malignancy surveillance.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2020Review
- [Alternative treatment options for periorbital basal cell carcinoma].Der Ophthalmologe : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft · 2020Review
- Triple therapy with intralesional 5-fluorouracil, chemowraps, and acitretin: A well-tolerated option for treatment of widespread cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas on the legs.JAAD case reports · 2019Article
- Association of Vitamin A Intake With Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Risk in the United States.JAMA dermatology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChemoprevention with systemic retinoids has demonstrated promise in decreasing the incidence of new primary nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) in immunocompromised post-transplantation recipients. There is limited evidence for the use of systemic retinoids in the nontransplantation patient. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of acitretin as a chemopreventive agent in nontransplantation patients at high-risk for NMSC.
methodsThe study was designed as a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. To test the possible skin cancer-preventing effect of a 2-year treatment with acitretin, 70 nontransplantation patients aged ≥18 years who had a history of ≥2 NMSCs within 5 years of trial onset were randomized to receive either placebo or acitretin 25 mg orally 5 days per week. The primary outcome measure was the rate of new NMSC development.
resultsSeventy patients were randomized to receive either acitretin alone (N = 35) or placebo (N = 35). During the 2-year treatment period, the patients who received acitretin did not have a statistically significant reduction in the rate of new primary NMSCs (odds ratio, 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.15-1.13; 54% vs 74%; P = .13). However, using the incidence of new NMSC, the time to new NMSC, and total NMSC counts, an umbrella test indicated a significant trend that favored the use of acitretin (chi-square statistic, 3.94; P = .047). The patients who received acitretin reported significantly more mucositis and skin toxicities compared with the patients who received placebo.
conclusionsAlthough there was not a statistically significant benefit observed with the use of acitretin, this may have been the result of low statistical power.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.