The course of neuropathy after cessation of cisplatin treatment, combined with Org 2766 or placebo.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Cisplatin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Peripheral neuropathy is an important and disabling side-effect of cisplatin treatment.

Exploratory, descriptive data analysis shows that between 1 and 4 months after the last cycle the average sum score for neurological signs and symptoms and VPT had deteriorated compared with 1 month after treatment.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 18 patients were involved.

PubMed tags the participants as women only.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Cisplatin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Cisplatin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Cisplatin could be set against what happens without it.

What Was Measured

Exploratory, descriptive data analysis shows that between 1 and 4 months after the last cycle the average sum score for neurological signs and symptoms and VPT had deteriorated compared with 1 month after treatment.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols, Carcinoma, Cisplatin, Cyclophosphamide, Ovarian Neoplasms and Peptide Fragments.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Cisplatin in 18 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 1992 (Journal of neurology), a journal based in Germany.

More context: all human trials.