Maintenance Therapy in Metastatic Solid Tumors

Innovative Strategy or Simple Second-line Treatment?

Abstract

Managing metastatic diseases involves defining the best strategy that is supposed to take into account both efficacy and quality of life. To this end, clinicians use stop and go or maintenance strategies. As a matter of fact, 2 maintenance strategies can be distinguished: continuation maintenance using a drug already present in induction treatment and switch maintenance with a newly introduced drug. Several drugs have been approved as maintenance therapy with several current indications in solid tumors. Questions remain concerning such strategies, notably duration, cost, tolerability, and shortcut between switch maintenance and early second line. If the concept of maintenance strategy remains trendy with numerous trials ongoing, several issues are still pending. The aims of this review were to accurately define and describe the various facets of maintenance therapy through its several indications in real life and then to discuss the future challenges of maintenance therapy in oncology.