Timing of Pegfilgrastim Administration and Pegfilgrastim-Induced Bone Pain

BACKGROUND: Pegfilgrastim-induced bone pain (PIBP) is common and lacks effective treatment. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is an association between the timing of pegfilgrastim administration and PIBP. DESIGN: Three-arm randomized controlled trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05841186). SETTING: A tertiary A-level hospital. PATIENTS: Patients with I to III stage breast cancer who were naive to chemotherapy. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomly allocated in a 1:1:1 ratio to the 24-hour, 48-hour, or 72-hour group based on the timing of pegfilgrastim administration postchemotherapy. MEASUREMENTS: The primary end point was the area under the curve (AUC) of the daily worst bone pain score (assessed using the "worst pain" question from the Brief Pain Inventory, a 0 to 10 numerical rating scale [NRS]) for 5 consecutive days in the first chemotherapy cycle. Secondary end points included the incidence of severe bone pain (>5 on the NRS), neutropenia, and febrile neutropenia (FN). RESULTS: 0.001). There was no substantial difference in the incidence of neutropenia among groups, and no patients developed FN. LIMITATION: Open label, single center, and relatively small sample size. CONCLUSION: Administration of pegfilgrastim 72 hours postchemotherapy reduced PIBP compared with 24- and 48-hour administration and did not seem to be associated with higher rates of neutropenia or FN. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: National Natural Science Foundation of China.