Reductions were mainly (>80%) owing to grade ⩾3 diarrhoea, not (febrile) neutropenia.
Treatment was delayed in only one patient (for 1 week) owing to grade I thrombocytopenia.
Zidovudine was switched to stavudine owing to grade 3/4 anaemia (n = 15), neutropenia (n = 7), and headache (n = 1).
Radiotherapy was withheld in 12 patients owing to grade 4 hematologic toxicity or for 5 to 9 days until neutropenia recovered to grade 2. Chemotherapy was suspended because of grade 4 hematologic toxicity in 7 patients during consolidation chemotherapy.
NVP was switched to a protease inhibitor secondary to grade 3 rash (n = 15) or grade 3/4 liver toxicity (n = 4), or to EFV (n = 3) or abacavir (n = 1) owing to grade 3/4 liver toxicity.
Among all enrolled patients, 13 had one time dose reduction (docetaxel and oxalipatin were 80% of the initial dose), and other 3 patients got one dose reduction of capecitabine owing to grade 3 hand-foot syndrome.
One patient who received a total of 10 cycles of sagopilone required a one-time treatment interruption for grade 2 motor neuropathy, and a second patient who received a total of 20 cycles required a dose reduction owing to grade 2 sensory neuropathy.
One patient in the placebo/tocilizumab substudy arm discontinued owing to grade 4 neutropenia (<500 cells/mm) and one patient owing to grade 3 neutropenia; both events resolved without sequelae.
Radiotherapy was terminated in these patients at 39.6 Gy (n=1), 45 Gy (n=3), and 48.6 Gy (n=1) owing to severe fatigue grade 3 (n=1), diarrhoea grade 3 (n=2), and nausea grade 2 and 3 (n=2).
And second, owing to the Swiss grading system, school grades vary little (usually ranging between 6.0 and 4.0); therefore, there is a lack of variance between students' school grades.
Most of the dose reductions occurred in cycle 2 or 3 and 89% (n=8) of these were owing to gastrointestinal toxicity grades ⩾3.
