Role of chemoradiotherapy in intermediate prognosis nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Radiotherapy alone versus concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with stage II and T3N0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma with adverse features: A propensity score-matched cohort study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Whether concurrent chemoradiotherapy would provide survival benefits in patients with stage II and T3N0 NPC with adverse factors remains unclear in IMRT era. We aimed to assess the value of concurrent chemotherapy compared to IMRT alone in stage II and T3N0 NPC with adverse features.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

287 patients with stage II and T3N0 NPC with adverse factors were retrospectively analyzed, including 98 patients who received IMRT alone (IMRT alone group) and 189 patients who received cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy (CCRT group). The possible prognostic factors were balanced using propensity score matching (PSM). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to evaluate the survival rates, and log-rank tests were employed to compare differences between groups.

RESULTS

The median follow-up duration was 90.8 months (interquartile range = 75.6-114.7 months). The IMRT alone and the CCRT group were well matched; however, for all survival-related endpoints, there were no significant differences between them (5-year failure-free survival: 84.3% vs. 82.7%, P value = 0.68; 5-year overall survival: 87.3% vs. 90.6%, P value = 0.11; 5-year distant metastasis-free survival: 92.8% vs. 92.5%, P value = 0.97; 5-year locoregional relapse-free survival: 93.4% vs. 89.9%, P value = 0.30). The incidence of acute toxicities in the IMRT alone group was significantly lower than that in the CCRT group.

CONCLUSION

For patients with stage II and T3N0 NPC with adverse features treated using IMRT, no improvement in survival was gained by adding concurrent chemotherapy; however, the occurrence of acute toxicities increased significantly. For those combined with non-single adverse factors, the comprehensive treatment strategy needs further exploration.

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in older patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma after intensity-modulated radiotherapy: A propensity score-matched cohort study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Whether concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) benefits the older (age ≥ 60 years) patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has not been determined. This study aimed to compare the outcomes and toxicities of CCRT with Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) alone in older patients with stage II NPC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Between January 2010 and December 2017, 220 older (age ≥ 60 years) patients with stage II NPC were analyzed. A pair of 53 patients were matched between the CCRT group and RT group by using propensity score matching (PSM) in terms of age, sex, pathological type, T and N stage, ACE-27 scores, CRP, LDH and Hb. Cancer-specific survival (CSS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional relapse-free survival (LRRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were analysed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess the prognostic risk factors by using a Cox's proportional hazards regression model. Treatment toxicities were clarified and compared between the two groups by using the χ2 test.

RESULTS

The median follow-up time of the whole cohort was 82.0 months (range, 11-151 months). PSM analysis indicated that compared with the RT group, significantly higher 5-year CSS (98.1 % vs. 83.0 %, P = 0.02), PFS (98.1 % vs. 79.2 %, P = 0.01) and DMFS (100.0 % vs. 92.4 %, P = 0.04) were observed in the CCRT group. Multivariate analysis showed that CCRT was an independent prognostic factor predicting CSS (HR, 0.34; 95 % CI, 0.15-0.79; P = 0.01), PFS (HR, 0.48; 95 % CI, 0.25-0.93; P = 0.03), and LRRFS (HR, 0.36; 95 % CI, 0.14-0.90; P = 0.03), and a higher ACE-27 score predicted a worse CSS. Patients in the CCRT group experienced higher frequencies of the acute toxicities than patients in the RT group. Late complications were comparable between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

CCRT significantly improved the survival benefits for the older patients with stage II NPC compared with IMRT alone without adding late complications, whereas increased some of the treatment-associated acute toxicities.

T1-2N1M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma chemotherapy or not: A retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Radiotherapy (RT) combined with chemotherapy is the standard treatment for T1-2N1M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) based on conventional radiotherapy. However, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) has narrowed the treatment gap between RT and chemoradiotherapy. Thus, this retrospective study aimed to compare the efficacy of RT and chemoradiotherapy (RT-chemo) in treating T1-2N1M0 NPC in the IMRT era.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From January 2008 to December 2016, 343 consecutive patients with T1-2N1M0 NPC in two cancer centers were included. All patients received RT or RT-chemo, chemotherapy including induction chemotherapy (IC) + concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), CCRT, or CCRT + adjuvant chemotherapy (AC). The number of patients who received RT, CCRT, IC + CCRT, and CCRT + AC was 114, 101, 89, and 39. The survival rates were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Multivariable analysis was performed to identify valuable prognostic factors.

RESULTS

The median follow-up time for survivors was 93 (range: 55-144) months. The 5-year overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional failure-free survival (LRFFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) for the RT-chemo and RT groups were 93.7%, 88.5%, 93.8%, 93.8% and 93.0%, 87.7%, 91.9%, 91.2%, respectively (P>0.05 for all outcomes). No significant survival differences were found between the two groups. The T1N1M0 or T2N1M0 subgroup analysis showed that treatment outcomes had no significant differences between the RT and RT-chemo groups. After adjusting for various factors, treatment mode was not identified as an independent prognostic factor for all survival rates.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, outcomes of T1-2N1M0 NPC patients treated by IMRT alone were comparable to chemoradiotherapy, supporting the omission or postponement of chemotherapy.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies Comparing Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy With Radiotherapy Alone in the Treatment of Stage II Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Purpose

The role of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is still controversial. Our objective is to evaluate the value of concurrent chemotherapy in stage II NPC receiving radiotherapy (RT).

Methods

We searched the PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases for studies comparing CCRT versus RT alone in stage II NPC with survival outcomes and toxicities, including locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS), metastasis-free survival (DMFS), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and grade 3–4 acute toxicities. The hazard ratios (HRs) of survival outcomes and risk ratios (RRs) of toxicities were extracted for meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis for stage N1 patients was performed to further explore whether these populations can earn benefits from concurrent chemotherapy.

Results

Nine eligible studies with a total of 4,092 patients were included. CCRT was associated with a better OS (HR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.44–0.82), LRFS (HR = 0.62, 95% CI 0.50–0.78), and PFS (HR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.54–0.79), but with similar DMFS (HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.46–1.45) compared with two-dimensional RT (2DRT) alone. However, CCRT showed no survival benefit in terms of OS (HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.62–1.15), LRFS (HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.54–1.34), DMFS (HR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.60–1.54), and PFS (HR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.66–1.37) compared with intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) alone. Subgroup analyses indicated that CCRT had similar OS (HR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.37–2.96), LRFS (HR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.34–1.45), DMFS (HR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.53–2.00), and PFS (HR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.58–1.88) in the stage N1 populations. Meanwhile, compared to RT alone, CCRT significantly increased the incidence of grade 3–4 leukopenia (RR = 4.00, 95% CI 2.29–6.97), mucositis (RR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.16–1.77), and gastrointestinal reactions (RR = 8.76, 95% CI 2.63–29.12). No significant differences of grade 3–4 toxicity in thrombocytopenia (RR = 3.45, 95% CI 0.85–13.94) was found between the two groups.

Conclusion

For unselected patients with stage II NPC, CCRT was superior to 2DRT alone with better LRFS, PFS, and OS, while adding concurrent chemotherapy to IMRT did not significantly improve survival but exacerbated acute toxicities.

Systematic Review Registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42022318253.

A network meta-analysis for efficacies and toxicities of different therapeutic regimens in the treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

PURPOSE

The current study set out to compare the efficacies and toxicities (grad 3 and 4) between concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), induction chemotherapy plus radiotherapy (IC + RT), IC + CCRT, RT and CCRT + adjuvant chemotherapy (CCRT + AC) in regard to advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment using a network meta-analysis.

METHODS

Literature retrieval was conducted using PubMed, Cochrane Library and other English databases. Eligible randomized controlled trails (RCTs) of 5 different regimens were included. The network meta-analysis combined direct and indirect comparisons to measure pooled odd ratios (OR) and the surface under the cumulative ranking curves (SUCRA).

RESULTS

A total of eight eligible RCTs were enrolled into this network meta-analysis after initial exclusion. With respect to hematologic toxicity, CCRT + AC exhibited higher toxicity in patients with advanced NPC in terms of anemia and leukopenia/neutropenia compared to RT. As for anemia, the toxicity of IC + CCRT was higher than those with advanced NPC. In addition, CCRT exhibited higher toxicity than RT in relation to leukopenia/neutropenia. Non-hematologic toxicity in regard to nausea/vomiting suggested that CCRT, IC + CCRT and CCRT + AC presented with higher levels of toxicity in patients with advanced NPC, in contrast to RT. Lastly, RT was found to be less toxic but with higher five-year overall survival (OS) rate in patients with advanced NPC, while CCRT, IC + CCRT and CCRT + AC were more toxic in patients with advanced NPC.

CONCLUSION

Among the five therapeutic regimens, the survival rate of IC + RT was similar to that of CCRT, and the toxicity SUCRA value of IC + RT was lower than that of CCRT. Together, our findings indicate that IC + RT may be a potentially acceptable treatment alternative to CCRT for advanced NPC, and is worthy of further investigation.

Survival of stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with or without concurrent chemotherapy: A propensity score matching study

Background

To ascertain if concurrent chemotherapy (CCT) benefits people with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with two‐dimensional radiotherapy (2DRT) or intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Methods

A total of 4157 patients diagnosed with stage II NPC were evaluated. Patients received radiotherapy (RT) with/without CCT. Patients were divided into 2DRT and IMRT subgroups. After propensity score matching, the role of CCT was explored in these two subgroups. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint and progression‐free survival (PFS), locoregional relapse‐free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) were secondary endpoints.

Results

In the 2DRT subgroup, CCT addition to RT benefited cases with T1N1/T2N1 in OS, PFS and LRFS (P < .001, P = .003 and P = .003, respectively) significantly, but no difference was observed in patients with T2N0. DMFS were similar in the two arms. CCT was a significant protective factor for OS, PFS, and LRFS for patients with stage N1. In the IMRT subgroup, RT alone could maintain equivalent OS, PFS, LRFS and DMFS (P = .209, .448, .477 and .602 respectively) and cause less acute toxicity compared with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).

Conclusion

CCRT was better than 2DRT alone among patients with T1‐2N1M0 stage. CCT application for NPC patients receiving IMRT led to no survival benefit and greater toxic effects.

The efficacy of chemotherapy in survival of stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma

PURPOSE

Chemotherapy use remains controversial for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This retrospective study was conducted to identify whether chemoradiotherapy was associated with better survival compared to radiotherapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was queried for stage II NPC patients between 2004 and 2015. Patients were divided into radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy groups. Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were examined using the Kaplan-Meier method, Cox proportional hazards models, and propensity score matching analyses.

RESULTS

This study examined 908 patients, including 102 receiving radiotherapy and 806 receiving chemoradiotherapy. Chemoradiotherapy was associated with 5-year OS (78.01% vs. 75.12%; p = 0.22) and CSS (78.92% vs. 78.26%; p = 0.40) rates comparable to those of radiotherapy. Propensity score matching analyses demonstrated similar OS (HR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.36--1.10; p = 0.10) and CSS (HR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.41-1.48; p = 0.44) rates with radiotherapy. Age >60 years and non-Asian patients were associated with worse survival.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that chemoradiotherapy showed similar survivals to stage II NPC patients compared with radiotherapy. Due to the limitations of SEER database, further studies should be performed to verify the results.

Establishment and validation of a nomogram for predicting the benefit of concurrent chemotherapy in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A study based on a phase III randomized clinical trial with 10-year follow-up

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Our previous phase III randomized trial demonstrated that the addition of concurrent chemotherapy to radiotherapy (RT) could improve survival in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Based on the study, we sought to develop a nomogram for predicting the 5-year and 10-year survival of patients with stage II NPC and estimating the benefit of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for individual patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data of 199 enrolled patients from the original trial was analyzed to build a nomogram. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint. The discrimination and calibration capacities were evaluated using Harrell Concordance Index (C-index) and calibration curves, respectively. Internal validation of the nomogram was performed by a separate cohort of 306 patients from the same cancer center.

RESULT

In training cohort, patients in CCRT group achieved higher 5-year and 10-year OS compared with patients in RT group. Three independent prognostic factors, which were age, N stage and treatment method from multivariable analysis were extracted to enter the nomogram. T stage was also included due to its importance in clinical decisions. The Harrell C-index of the nomogram in training and validation cohort was 0.748 and 0.653 respectively. The calibration curves showed an acceptable agreement between prediction and observed probability.

CONCLUSION

We developed and validated a nomogram to predict the 5-year and 10-year OS in stage II NPC patients. The nomogram could serve as a pragmatic tool in clinical decisions to estimate the individual risk of stage II patients and identify those who could benefit from chemotherapy.

Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy With or Without Induction Chemotherapy for Patients with Stage II Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: An Update

PURPOSE

In contrast to other studies, our previous study showed that adding induction chemotherapy (IC) to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) significantly worsened the prognosis of patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the population used was small; therefore, there is an urgent need to confirm the result in a larger population because IC is still widely used in certain sections of china for stage II NPC.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

We retrospectively analyzed an additional 272 patients. Therefore, in total, we report the results for 445 patients with stage II NPC treated with IC + CCRT or CCRT between June 2003 to June 2016 at the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital and Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center.

RESULTS

This study included 445 patients treated with IC + CCRT (n = 195) or CCRT (n = 250). By last analysis, 22 (11.3%) patients in the IC + CCRT group developed local-regional recurrence and 23 (11.8%) patients developed distant metastases. Twenty-four (9.6%) patients in the CCRT group developed local-regional recurrence and 12 (4.8%) patients developed distant metastases. Univariate analyses showed that adding IC to CCRT significantly decreased the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) (80.6% vs. 88.5%, P = .043); however, there was no statistically significant difference in 5-year overall survival (OS) (90.5% vs. 95.0%, P = .375).

CONCLUSION

Using a larger population, the present study showed that adding IC to CCRT had a negative effect on patients with stage II NPC, which warrants further investigation.

Ten-Year Outcomes Of Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) Combine With Chemotherapy Versus IMRT Alone For Stage II Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma In The Real-World Study (RWD)

Objectives

The aim was to define the role of chemotherapy in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and to identify the toxicity of chemotherapy for these patients in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Methods

Between January 2002 and December 2013, 169 patients with stage II NPC were analyzed. Of these patients, 149 patients treated with chemotherapy were divided into three groups as follows: neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by IMRT (NCT) group, concurrent chemotherapy with IMRT (CCRT) group, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by CCRT (NC+CCRT) group. In addition, 20 patients received IMRT alone. We retrospectively assessed the 10-year survival and acute adverse effects in the patients using SPSS software.

Results

The median follow-up time was 93 months (2–160 months). The 10-year OS of the NCT, CCRT, NC+CCRT groups vs the IMRT alone group was 69.8%, 63.4%, 69.7% vs 72.4%, respectively (P=0.664, 0.940, and 0.998, respectively). Both univariable and multivariable analyses showed that the addition of chemotherapy to IMRT did not significantly improve the 10-year survival outcomes. The hematotoxicity and mucous reaction of patients with chemotherapy were more serious than those with IMRT alone (P=0.007 and 0.049). Distant metastasis for stage II NPC patients mostly occurred within 3 years, which is very different from patients with advanced NPC.

Conclusion

Patients with stage II NPC who are treated with IMRT may obtain satisfactory long-term survival outcomes. The additional chemotherapy cannot significantly increase survival; however, it may remarkably increase treatment-associated acute toxic reactions.

The role of chemotherapy in the treatment of stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Retrospective analysis of the national cancer database

The standard of care treatment for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) includes both chemotherapy and definitive radiation. However, there are limited data on the optimal management of stage II NPC. We performed a retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Database to analyze the treatment patterns and role of chemotherapy in patients with stage II NPC. We identified 611 patients diagnosed with T1-2, N0-1, M0 NPC, from 2004 to 2013. Five-year survival was calculated using Kaplan Meier (KM) analysis. Multivariable analysis and propensity matched analysis were performed to analyze the impact of chemotherapy on overall survival. Of the 611 patients, 527 underwent concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) and 84 received radiation only. Unadjusted KM analysis showed improved 5-year survival in the CCRT group compared to radiation only (80.5% vs 65.7%; P = 0.0021). Multivariable analysis also showed improved survival with the addition of chemotherapy (Hazard ratio [HR] 0.59; 95 CI 0.39-0.89; P = 0.0124). Propensity matched analysis confirmed a significant clinical benefit from the addition of chemotherapy to radiation. Age ≥ 65 years (HR 2.41; 95% CI 1.71-3.4; P = <0.0001), Charlson-Deyo comorbidity index >1 (HR 2.82; 95% CI 1.49-5.31; P = 0.0014) and positive lymph node status (HR 1.6; 95% CI 1.04-2.46; P = 0.0340) were associated with worse survival. In this retrospective analysis, patients with stage II NPC had improved survival with CCRT compared to definitive radiation only. Elderly patients with comorbidities had worse outcomes.

Ten-year outcomes of survival and toxicity for a phase III randomised trial of concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma

PURPOSE

Our previous results showed survival benefits of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in treating stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) compared with radiotherapy (RT) alone. Here, we present the updated 10-year survival results and late toxicity profile to assess the ultimate effectiveness of concurrent chemotherapy.

METHODS

Patients with stage II NPC were randomly assigned to RT arm (n = 114) or to CCRT arm (n = 116) with a concurrent weekly cisplatin regimen. The primary end-point was overall survival (OS).

RESULTS

With a median follow-up of 125 months, significant improvements in OS (83.6% vs 65.8%, P = 0.001), progression-free survival (76.7% vs 64.0%, P = 0.014), cancer-specific survival (86.2% vs 71.9%, P = 0.002), distant-metastasis free survival (94.0% vs 83.3%, P = 0.007) were observed in CCRT arm. In point of locoregional-relapse free survival, the impact of CCRT was not remarkable. The findings were in accordance with our previous report. The survival benefits earned by CCRT mainly reflected in T2N1 population. Although CCRT brought more acute toxic effects (P = 0.001), as presented in previous report, the late toxicities and treatment-associated deaths events were comparable between two arms.

CONCLUSIONS

Ten-year outcomes confirmed that CCRT could improve the OS of stage II patients without adding late toxicities compared with conventional RT.

Predictive factors of chemotherapy use in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A retrospective cohort study

Identification of predictive factors of chemotherapy use and assessment of the roles of these factors in prognosis will aid therapeutic decision-making in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Using logistic regression, we retrospectively assessed factors predicting chemotherapy use in 251 stage II (2010  UICC/AJCC staging system) NPC patients. Five-year overall survival (OS), locoregional-free survival (LRFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were analyzed based on the predictive factors.Logistic regression found that N1 stage was an independent factor predicting chemotherapy use in stage II NPC patients. However, 5-year OS (96.5% vs 94.9%, P = .564), LRFS (98.2% vs 96.9%, P = .652), and DMFS (95.9% vs 97.6%, P = .560) did not differ between N0 and N1 stage patients. Moreover, addition of chemotherapy use did not improve treatment outcomes in N1 stage compared with radiotherapy alone.N1 stage predicted chemotherapy use in stage II NPC patients. But, the addition of chemotherapy did not provide a survival benefit.

Chemoradiotherapy enhanced the efficacy of radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients: a network meta-analysis

Object

A Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to estimate the overall survival (OS) and complete response (CR) performance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients who have been given the treatment of radiotherapy, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (C), adjuvant chemotherapy (A), neoadjuvant chemotherapy (N), concurrent chemoradiotherapy with adjuvant chemotherapy (C+A), concurrent chemoradiotherapy with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (C+N) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy with adjuvant chemotherapy (N+A).

Methods

Literature search was conducted in electronic databases. Hazard ratios (HRs) accompanied their 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) or 95% credible intervals (95%CrIs) were applied to measure the relative survival benefit between two comparators. Meanwhile odd ratios (ORs) with their 95% CIs or CrIs were given to present CR data from individual studies.

RESULTS

Totally 52 qualified studies with 10,081 patients were included in this NMA. In conventional meta-analysis (MA), patients with N+C exhibited an average increase of 9% in the 3-year OS in relation to those with C+A. As for the NMA results, five therapies were associated with a significantly reduced HR when compared with the control group when concerning 5-year OS. C, C+A and N+A also presented a decreased HR compared with A. There was continuity among 1-year, 3-year and 5-year OS status. Cluster analysis suggested that the three chemoradiotherapy appeared to be divided into the most compete group which is located in the upper right corner of the cluster plot.

Conclusion

In view of survival rate and complete response, the NMA results revealed that C, C+A and C+N showed excellent efficacy. As a result, these 3 therapies were supposed to be considered as the first-line treatment according to this NMA.

Addition of chemotherapy to intensity-modulated radiotherapy does not improve survival in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

In this study, we examined whether combining neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and/or concurrent chemotherapy (CC) with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) improved survival in patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Two hundred forty-two stage II NPC patients were enrolled between May 2008 and April 2014 and received radical IMRT with simultaneous integrated boost technique using 6 MV photons; some patient groups also received chemotherapy every 3 weeks for 2-3 cycles. The median follow-up duration was 69 months for all patients. At the last follow-up, 18 patients had experienced treatment failure; locoregional relapse among the IMRT alone, NAC+IMRT, NAC+CCRT, and CCRT occurred in 3, 3, 4 and 5, respectively; distant metastases in 0, 0, 2 and 1, respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference among four groups (P=0.019). The 5-year locoregional relapse-free survival (LRRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) rates for all patients were 94.7%, 98.7%, 92.9%, and 93.4%, respectively. Five-year LRRFS, DMFS, PFS, and OS were similar among the IMRT alone, NAC+IMRT, NAC+CCRT, and CCRT treatment groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that a combined regimen was not an independent prognostic factor for any survival outcome. However, patients who received IMRT plus chemotherapy experienced more acute adverse events than those who received IMRT alone. Thus, the addition of NAC and/or CC to IMRT did not improve survival outcomes, but was associated with higher incidences of acute treatment-associated toxicities than IMRT alone in patients with stage II NPC.

Combined chemoradiation vs radiation therapy alone in stage-II nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A meta-analysis of the published literature

The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of stage-II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We searched Pubmed, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Internet, China Biology Medicine, VIP, and Wanfang database for studies of the RT with or without chemotherapy in patients with stage-II NPC that were published in any language. Analyses were carried out using RevMan 5.3 software. The relative risk was used to evaluate the data, the I² test was used to compare heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis was used to evaluate the stability and reliability of the results. There were 16 studies with 3038 patients that were included in this analysis. Risk ratios (RR) of 1.04 (95% CI: 1.01-1.06), 1.05 (95% CI: 1.00-1.10), 1.05 (95% CI: 1.02-1.07), and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.97-1.03) were observed for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional failure-free survival (LRFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). Subgroup analysis showed that compared with conventional RT alone, chemoradiation (CRT) could significantly improve OS (RR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.03-1.15), PFS (RR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.08-1.35), and LRFS (RR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04-1.14), but did not significantly improve the rate of DMFS (RR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.94-1.12). However, compared with intensity modulated radiation therapy alone, CRT did not significantly improve the rate of OS (RR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.99-1.03), PFS (RR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.95-1.03), LRFS (RR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.99-1.05), and DMFS (RR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.96-1.01). Compared with conventional RT alone, CRT could significantly improve patients' prognoses in terms of OS, PFS, and LRFS for stage-II NPC, but not DMFS, and CRT can provide greater benefits from concurrent chemotherapy than neoadjuvant chemotherapy. With intensity modulated radiation therapy, the stage-II NPC patients did not benefit from the addition of chemotherapy.

The role of concurrent chemotherapy for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the intensity-modulated radiotherapy era: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives

To compare clinical outcomes of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with those of radiotherapy alone for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) era.

Materials and methods

We comprehensively searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS) with hazard ratios (HRs), and toxicities with odd ratios (ORs) were analyzed.

Results

A total of seven studies met the criteria, with 1302 patients who were treated with IMRT alone or IMRT plus concurrent chemotherapy. No significant survival benefit was shown by CCRT regardless of OS (HR = 1.17, 95% CI 0.73–1.89, P = 0.508), PFS (HR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.38–1.50, P = 0.430), DMFS (HR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.33–2.41, P = 0.816), or LRRFS (HR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.95–1.12, P = 0.498). Additionally, CCRT notably increased the risk of acute grade 3–4 leukopenia (OR = 4.432, 95% CI 2.195–8.952, P < 0.001), compared to IMRT alone.

Conclusion

Adding concurrent chemotherapy to IMRT led to no survival benefit and increased acute toxicity reactions for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Chemotherapy use and survival in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Although common, the use of chemotherapy for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is controversial due to its undefined clinical benefits. We therefore conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate whether chemotherapy confers survival gains to stage II NPC patients. A total of 251 stage II (2010 UICC/AJCC staging system) NPC patients treated between January 2007 and December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were matched using the propensity-score matching method. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints were locoregional-free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). Our analyses revealed no significant differences in OS, LRFS, or DMFS for stage II NPC patients treated with radiotherapy (RT) alone, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), or CCRT + adjuvant chemotherapy (AC). T2N1 (OR = 6.690; 95% CI, 3.091–14.481) and T1N1 (OR = 5.857; 95% CI, 2.278–15.061) patients were more likely to receive CCRT than T2N0 patients. Similarly, both T2N1 (OR = 10.513; 95% CI, 3.439–32.137) and T1N1 (OR = 7.321; 95% CI, 1.978–27.098) patients were more likely to receive CCRT + AC than T2N0 patients. The present matched survival analysis suggests potential overuse of chemotherapy in stage II NPC, as the addition of chemotherapy did not provide a survival benefit in this group of patients.

Chemoradiotherapy Versus Radiotherapy Alone in Stage II Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Systemic Review and Meta-analysis of 2138 Patients

Background: To explore the value of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) compared to radiotherapy (RT) alone which includes two-dimensional radiotherapy (2D-RT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Methods:All topic-related comparative articles were identified by a comprehensive search of public databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and CBMdisc). The primary outcomes were overall survival (OS), loco-regional relapse-free survival (LRRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). Secondary outcomes were grade 3-4 acute toxicity events. We performed subgroup analysis of CRT versus 2D-RT/IMRT alone to investigate the optimal modality. Sensitivity analysis focused on CRT versus IMRT alone was used to assess stability of the study results.

Results:Eleven comparative studies (2138 patients) were eligible. CRT had significantly higher OS (HR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.45-0.98, P = 0.04) and LRRFS (HR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.46-0.80, P = 0.0003) than RT alone, but no significant difference was observed in DMFS (HR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.52-1.31, P = 0.41). Meanwhile, CRT was associated with higher frequencies of grade 3-4 leukopenia, mucositis and nausea (P = 0.005, 0.03, < 0.0001, respectively). Subgroup analysis showed that IMRT alone could achieve equivalent OS, LRRFS and DMFS compared to CRT (P = 0.14, 0.06, 0.89, respectively). Significant value was only observed in LRRFS for CRT compared to 2D-RT alone (P = 0.01). Sensitivity analysis for the comparison of CRT and IMRT alone demonstrated generally stable outcomes, in support of the final conclusions.

Conclusions:In the treatment of patients with stage II NPC, CRT was better than 2D-RT alone with significant benefit in LRRFS. IMRT alone was superior to CRT with equivalent survival outcomes and fewer grade 3-4 acute toxicities.

Comparison of the efficacy between concurrent chemoradiotherapy with or without adjuvant chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy alone for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore whether concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with or without Adjuvant Chemotherapy (AC) could improved the survival in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHODS

Patients with stage II NPC treated with CCRT (n=80) or CCRT+AC (n=40) or IMRT alone (n=42) between January 2007 and September 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. The three patient groups were matched based on prognostic factors. All patients were treated with IMRT. The endpoints were overall survival (OS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), locoregional relapse-free survival (LRRFS), and failure-free survival (FFS). The treatment-related acute toxicity reactions between the three groups were compared also.

RESULTS

The three groups indicated similar outcomes: survival of the CCRT group, CCRT+AC group and RT alone group were (93.9%, 95.0%, 95.2%, P=0.937) for OS, (96.8%, 94.9%, 93.0%, P=0.756) for LRRFS, (91.1%, 97.5%, 100%, P=0.185) for DMFS and (84.9%, 92.5%, 93.0%, P=0.597) for FFS. Both the univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that older age predicted lower LRRFS and FFS. The CCRT and CCRT+AC groups showed more acute toxicity reactions, especially in bone marrow suppression, Liver dysfunction, gastrointestinal reactions (nausea/vomiting) and weight loss.

CONCLUSION

CCRT with/without AC could not improve the survival conditions of patients with stage II NPC, but remarkably increased treatment-associated acute toxic reactions when compared with IMRT alone.

Propensity score matching analysis of cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy in low risk nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the intensity-modulated radiotherapy era

Background

Patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma were reported to benefit from adding cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy to two-dimensional conventional radiotherapy. But this benefit becomes uncertain in the intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) era, owing to its significant advantage.

Methods

We enrolled 661 low risk (T1N1M0, T2N0-1M0 or T3N0M0, the 2010 UICC/AJCC staging system) patients who underwent IMRT with or without concurrent chemotherapy. Particularly, patients with IMRT alone or IMRT plus cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy were equally matched using propensity-score matching method. Overall survival (OS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and locoregional relapse-free survival (LRFS) were assessed with Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test and Cox regression.

Results

Among 661 patients, IMRT alone achieved parallel OS (P = 0.379), DMFS (P = 0.169) and LRFS (P = 0.849) to IMRT plus concurrent chemotherapy. In the propensity-matched cohort of 482 patients, similar survival were observed between both arms (4-years OS 97.4% vs 96.1%, P = 0.134; DMFS 96.5% vs 95.1%, P = 0.763; LRFS 93.8% vs 91.5%, P = 0.715). In multivariate analysis, cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy did not lower the risk of death, distant metastasis or locoregional relapse. And this association remained unchanged in subgroups by age, sex, histology and stage.

Conclusions

In this study, low risk nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients who underwent IMRT could not benefit from cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy.

Efficacy of Concurrent Chemotherapy for Intermediate Risk NPC in the Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy Era: a Propensity-Matched Analysis

This study is to evaluate the efficacy of additional concurrent chemotherapy for intermediate risk (stage II and T3N0M0) NPC patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).440 patients with intermediate risk NPC were studied retrospectively, including 128 patients treated with IMRT alone [radiotherapy group (RT group)] and 312 paitents treated with IMRT plus concurrent chemotherapy [chemoradiotherapy group (CRT group)]. Propensity score matching was carried out to create RT and CRT cohorts equally matched for host and tumor factor. Significantly more severe acute toxicities were observed in the CRT group than in the RT group. Multivariate analyses of 440 patients failed to demonstrate concurrent chemotherapy as an independent prognostic factor for FFS, LR-FFS, and D-FFS. Between the well-matched RT cohort and the CRT cohort, no significant difference was demonstrated in all survival endpoints (FFS: 92.8% versus 91.2%, P = 0.801; LR-FFS: 95.2% versus 94.4%, P = 0.755; D-FFS: 96.4% versus 96.3%, P = 0.803; OS: 98.2% versus 98.9%, P = 0.276). Our results demonstrated that for patients with intermediate risk NPC treated with IMRT, additional concurrent chemotherapy did not provide any significant survival benefit but significantly more severe acute toxicities. However, prospective randomized trials are warranted for the ultimate confirm of our findings.

Expression and Prognostic Significance of Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-3 Alpha and Cystatin A in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

This study aims to investigate the expression of macrophage inflammatory protein-3 alpha (MIP-3α) and cystatin A in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and their association with clinical characteristics and prognosis. Primary tumor specimens from 114 NPC patients and associated clinical follow-up data were collected, and the expression of MIP-3α and cystatin A proteins was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Expression of MIP-3α was significantly associated with TNM stage in patients with NPC (P < 0.05). NPC patients with positive expression of MIP-3α exhibited shorter median overall survival (OS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), compared with patients with negative expression (OS: 50.5 months versus 59.0 months, P = 0.013; DMFS: 50.1 months versus 60.2 months, P = 0.003). NPC patients with positive expression of cystatin A exhibited shorter median OS, local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), and DMFS, compared with patients with negative expression (OS: 51.1 months versus 60.0 months, P = 0.004; LRFS: 54.5 months versus 59.5 months, P = 0.036; DMFS: 52.3 months versus 58.8 months, P = 0.036). Both MIP-3α and cystatin A overexpressions in NPC tumor tissues were strong independent factors of poor prognosis in NPC patients. MIP-3α and cystatin A expressions may be valuable prognostic markers in NPC patients.

Long-term outcomes of concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with IMRT: a retrospective study

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). A total of 249 patients were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were treated with IMRT. One hundred forty-three patients treated with CCRT and 106 patients treated with IMRT alone. With a median follow-up of 59.4 months, adding concurrent chemotherapy did not statistically significantly improve the 5-year overall survival (OS) (89.7 % vs 99.0 %, p = 0.278), locoregional relapse-free survival (LRFS) (94.8 % vs 89.3 %, p = 0.167), and distant metastases-free survival (DMFS) (93.4 % vs 97.5 %, p = 0.349). The patients with CCRT significantly experienced more acute toxic effects. The main grades 3-4 toxicity reactions were mucositis (26.6 % vs 15.1 %, p = 0.03) and leukopenia/neutropenia (9.1 % vs 0.9 %, p = 0.005). In subgroup analysis of patients with concurrent platinum single-agent chemotherapy the 5-year OS (98.4 % vs 81.9 %, p = 0.013) and DMFS (96.9 % vs 84.4 %, p = 0.043) of patients with platinum every 3 weeks (Q3W) were significantly higher than those with platinum weekly (QW) and no significant difference for LRFS (96.8 % vs 90.4 %, p = 0.150). CCRT did not improve the survival of patients with stage II NPC but increased the acute toxicity reactions. Patients with platinum Q3W improved the 5-year OS and DMFS, compared with those with platinum QW.

Omission of Chemotherapy in Early Stage Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Treated with IMRT: A Paired Cohort Study

The objective of this study was to evaluate the necessity of concurrent chemotherapy in T1-2N1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The retrospective analysis was conducted using the paired comparison method. We matched cases to controls using the greedy matching algorithm with 1:1 control to case ratio. Controls were matched to cases by factors including age, gender, T stage, and duration of RT. The control group included patients received IMRT alone. In another group, concurrent chemotherapy (DDP 40 mg2/m/w) was administrated to each paired patient. From Jan 2009 to Dec 2011, a total of 86 well-balanced T1-2N1 (2002 UICC staging system) NPC patients were retrospectively analyzed. Half of them (43 patients) received radical IMRT alone and another 43 received concurrent chemotherapy with IMRT (CCRT). Median follow-up is 37.4 months (4.8-66.2 months). All patients received a radiation dose of 66 Gy/30Fx. In the CCRT group, all patients received a cumulative dose of ≥ 200 mg/m2. The differences of 3-year overall survival (OS), 3-year progression-free survival (PFS), 3-year relapse-free survival (RFS), and 3-year metastasis-free survival (MFS) between 2 groups were not significant (P > 0.05). The most frequently increased toxicities related to chemotherapy were mild to moderate leukopenia (P = 0.003) and mild anemia (P = 0.008).Omission of weekly cisplatin chemotherapy resulted in comparable survival outcomes to CCRT in IMRT populations. More data from future randomized trials are warranted to further confirm it.

Role of Chemotherapy in Stage II Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Treated with Curative Radiotherapy

Purpose

To define the role of neoadjuvant and concurrent chemotherapy in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma, we compared the treatment outcomes of patients treated with curative radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy.

Materials and Methods

From 2004 to 2011, 138 patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 2002 stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma were treated with curative radiotherapy in 12 hospitals in South Korea. Treatment methods included radiotherapy alone in 34 patients, neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy alone in seven, concurrent chemoradiotherapy in 80, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy in 17. Adjuvant chemotherapy was used in 42 patients. Total radiation dose ranged from 64 Gy to 74.2 Gy (median, 70 Gy).

Results

Median follow-up was 48 months (range, 7 to 97 months) for all patients. At the last follow-up, 13 patients had died and 32 had experienced treatment failure; locoregional failure occurred in 14, distant failure in 16, and both in two. Five-year locoregional relapse-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, progression-free survival, and overall survival were 86.2%, 85.5%, 74.4%, and 88.2%, respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that the significant prognostic factors were concurrent chemotherapy and N stage for locoregional relapse-free survival, concurrent chemotherapy for progression-free survival, and age and N stage for overall survival. Neither neoadjuvant nor concurrent chemotherapy improved distant metastasis-free survival.

Conclusion

Concurrent chemotherapy significantly improved 5-year locoregional relapse-free survival and progression-free survival in stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, neoadjuvant chemotherapy failed to improve either.

Clinical significance of TrkB expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Recent research has demonstrated that tropomyosin‑related kinase B (TrkB) plays an important role in neuronal survival, differentiation and migration; yet, its specific role in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is unclear. To elucidate its role in NPC, we examined TrkB expression in NPC tissues and cell lines, and investigated the correlation between TrkB expression and prognosis in patients with NPC. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on NPC specimens from 108 patients with follow-up information. Additionally, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analyses were used to determine TrkB expression levels in NPC and noncancerous nasopharyngeal tissues. RT-PCR and western blot analyses were also used to determine TrkB expression levels in 7 NPC cell lines and a nasopharyngeal epithelium cell line. High TrkB expression was significantly correlated with T classification, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage, respectively. Patients with NPC who had high TrkB expression had reduced disease-free survival and overall survival when compared with patients who had low TrkB expression. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that TrkB overexpression was an independent prognostic factor for patients with NPC. Furthermore, TrkB was overexpressed in NPC specimens and cell lines. TrkB expression levels were significantly increased in NPC specimens, and enhanced levels were correlated with a poor prognosis in patients with NPC. These findings suggest that TrkB may contribute to NPC progression and represent a novel prognostic indicator for patients with NPC.

Efficacy and safety of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin and docetaxel in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancers

AIMS AND BACKGROUND

Chemoradiation using cisplatin-based regimens has become the standard care in the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancers. The impact of taxanes as radiosensitizing agents with concurrent chemoradiation regimens is unknown. We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of weekly cisplatin + docetaxel combination with chemoradiation in locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancers.

METHODS

Forty-two patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancers (59.5% stage IV, 23.3% stage III, and 16.7% stage II) were assessed retrospectively. Total radiation dose to the planning target volume of gross disease (primary and/or node) was 70 Gy/35 fractions, 5 fractions per week. Minimum doses of 60 Gy and 50 Gy were administered to planning target volume of elective high-risk and low-risk disease, respectively. Chemotherapy consisted of weekly cisplatin (20 mg/m(2)) + docetaxel (20 mg/m(2)) concurrently with radiotherapy.

RESULTS

The median age of the patients was 46.5 years (range, 17-79). Objective response rate was 86%. The 4-year progression-free survival and overall survival were 65.4% and 91.3%, respectively. The most common grade 3 and 4 toxicities were mucositis (48%), nausea (22%), neutropenia (12%), dermatitis (5%), fatigue (5%) and weight loss (5%).

CONCLUSIONS

Weekly cisplatin and docetaxel concurrent with radiotherapy for locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancers was found tolerable with a high efficacy.

Increased treatment-related mortality with additional cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with standard radiotherapy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSES

We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the overall risk of treatment-related death associated with additional cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with standard radiotherapy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Eligible studies included RCTs in which cisplatin-based chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy was compared with radiotherapy alone. Statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the summary incidence rates, relative risks (RRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using fixed- or random-effects models based on the heterogeneity of included studies.

RESULTS

A total of 2829 patients from 13 RCTs were included in this study. The overall incidence for treatment-related death in chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy treated patients was 1.7% and 0.8%. Compared to radiotherapy alone, radiotherapy plus cisplatin-based chemotherapy significantly increased the risk of treatment-related mortality. On subgroup analyses, no difference was found in treatment-related mortality between different timings of chemotherapy and chemotherapeutic agents. Adding cisplatin-based chemotherapy was associated with higher incidences of severe acute toxicity.

CONCLUSIONS

Cisplatin-based chemotherapy plus radiotherapy increased the risk of treatment-related death and severe acute toxicity, compared with radiotherapy alone. Better management of treatment toxicity might improve the therapeutic gain in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A prospective multicentre phase II study of cisplatin and weekly docetaxel as first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer (KCSG HN07-01)

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this phase II study was to determine the efficacy and toxicity of cisplatin and weekly docetaxel combination chemotherapy as a first-line treatment in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer patients were enrolled and received a combination of weekly docetaxel (35 mg/m(2) on Day1 and Day8) and cisplatin (70 mg/m(2) D1) every 21 days, for up to a maximum of 6 cycles. The primary endpoint was objective response rate, and the secondary endpoints included toxicity of combination chemotherapy, progression-free survival, overall survival and 1-year survival rate.

RESULTS

In total, 47 patients were enrolled and analysed, and 46 patients (97.9%) completed the planned protocol. In an intent-to-treat analysis, 6 patients (12.8%) achieved complete response (CR) and 27 patients (57.4%) showed partial response (PR), with an objective response rate of 70.2%. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 9.6 months (95% C.I. 5.7-13.5 months) and 28.5 months (95% C.I. 16.9-40.1 months), respectively, and the 1-year survival rate was 89.9%. The common grade 3 adverse events were stomatitis (1.2%), neutropenia (0.8%), anaemia (0.8%), infection (0.8%) and diarrhoea (0.8%). Grade 4 adverse events were not observed in this study.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination chemotherapy of cisplatin and weekly docetaxel is highly effective and shows favourable toxicity as a first-line chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer.

Role of chemotherapy in stage IIb nasopharyngeal carcinoma

The efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy on stage IIb nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains unclear. Conventional two-dimensional radiotherapy combined with concurrent chemotherapy can improve the overall survival, progression-free survival, recurrence-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival of patients with stage IIb NPC. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy without concurrent chemotherapy also provides good outcomes for patients with stage IIb NPC. This article summarizes the features of stage IIb NPC and reviews the role of chemotherapy in this subgroup of NPC.