metronomic: a standalone construct

In oncology, metronomic therapy is the frequent administration of cytotoxic drugs at low doses with no long breaks, so that treatment runs on a steady rhythm rather than in maximal-dose pulses, the aim being to suppress the tumour's blood supply rather than to kill as many cancer cells as possible at once. Hanahan, Bergers, and Bergsland's 2000 Less is more, regularly: metronomic dosing of cytotoxic drugs can target tumor angiogenesis in mice introduced the approach and its antiangiogenic rationale. The referent is a dosing schedule defined by steady, low-dose timing, named for the musical metronome but otherwise unrelated to it.[1]

Unit

A schedule of frequent low-dose drug administration without extended breaks

Recovery means

Response is judged by sustained suppression of tumour angiogenesis and growth rather than maximal immediate cell kill

Measured by

Defined by dose, frequency, and absence of breaks, and evaluated by tumour-growth and antiangiogenic response