# Dose-dense and metronomic chemotherapy

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/dose-dense-chemotherapy/  
OnCo record `dose-dense-chemotherapy` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Two opposite ways of rescheduling the same drugs: dose-dense gives standard doses more often (every two weeks instead of three, supported by growth factors) to deny the tumour recovery time; metronomic gives small doses continuously to attack tumour blood vessels with little toxicity.

## Summary

Dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy improved survival in breast cancer (CALGB 9741, EBCTCG meta-analysis) and interval-compressed VDC/IE is standard in Ewing sarcoma; it needs G-CSF support. Metronomic oral chemotherapy (capecitabine, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, vinorelbine) exploits anti-angiogenic and immune effects, is cheap and well tolerated, and is used in maintenance (CM in triple-negative breast, SYSUCC-001) and low-resource settings such as Tata Memorial's head and neck trials. Both are examples of gaining efficacy from schedule rather than new molecules.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: dose-dense; dose dense; dose-intense; dose intensity; interval-compressed; metronomic; metronomic chemotherapy; low-dose metronomic; dose-dense AC; weekly paclitaxel

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronomic_therapy
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronomic_therapy

## Connected records

- terms: [Maintenance therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/maintenance-therapy/), [Neutropenia](https://onco.cc/terms/neutropenia/), [Regimen and cycles](https://onco.cc/terms/chemotherapy-regimen/)
- cancers: [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/), [Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)](https://onco.cc/cancers/sarcoma/), [Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc/)
- fronts: [Chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/chemotherapy/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/), [Growth factors: G-CSF and febrile neutropenia prevention](https://onco.cc/technologies/g-csf-growth-factors/)

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