Trial reportThe oncologist2024
Health-related quality-of-life analysis from KEYNOTE-590: pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer.
Trial report in The oncologist, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT03189719 (A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase III Clinical Trial of Pembrolizumab), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase III Clinical Trial of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) in Combination With Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil Versus Placebo in Combination With Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil as First-Line Treatment in Subjects With Advanced/Metastatic Esophageal Carcinoma (KEYNOTE-590)
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Chemotherapy backbone and outcomes of immune checkpoint inhibitor combinations across solid tumors: a pan-tumor network meta-analysis.The oncologist · 2026Pooled it
- What determines value? Exploring value characteristics of novel therapies for digestive system cancers.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Trial
- Health-related quality-of-life outcomes with regorafenib in advanced gastric and esophagogastric junction cancer: results from the INTEGRATE trials.Gastric cancer : official journal of the International Gastric Cancer Association and the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association · 2025Trial
- Association between patient-reported outcomes and pathological response in neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy-a post hoc analysis of the TD-FOREKNOW trial.Translational lung cancer research · 2026Article
- Advances in Pharmacologic- and Non-pharmacologic Interventions for Cancer Pain: A Narrative Review.Current treatment options in oncology · 2026Review
- PD-L1-stratified health-related quality of life in solid tumors: pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy-a narrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn the KEYNOTE-590 study, first-line pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy provided statistically significant improvement in overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rate compared with chemotherapy, with a manageable safety profile in patients with advanced esophageal cancer. Prespecified health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) outcomes are reported. MATERIALS AND
methodsChange from baseline to week 18 in the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) global health status/QoL (GHS/QoL) and QLQ-Esophageal cancer module (OES18) dysphagia, pain, and reflux scales were evaluated.
resultsThe HRQoL analysis included 730 patients who received treatment and completed ≥1 HRQoL assessment. Least squares mean (LSM) change from baseline to week 18 was similar between treatment groups for QLQ-C30 GHS/QoL and physical functioning and QLQ-OES18 reflux scales. The QLQ-OES18 dysphagia (LSM difference, -5.54; 95% CI, -10.93 to -0.16) and pain (LSM difference, -2.94; 95% CI, -5.86 to -0.02) scales favored pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy over placebo plus chemotherapy. Median time to confirmed deterioration (TTD) was similar between treatment groups for QLQ-C30 GHS/QoL and physical functioning and QLQ-OES18 dysphagia and reflux scales. Compared with chemotherapy, pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy prolonged median TTD, as seen on the QLQ-OES18 pain scale (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.95).
conclusionThe use of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy maintained HRQoL at week 18 relative to baseline and was comparable with placebo plus chemotherapy. These HRQoL results together with published reports of efficacy, support the use of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy as first-line therapy for advanced/metastatic esophageal cancer. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV ID: NCT03189719.
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