Treatment of stage IV(A-B) nasopharyngeal carcinoma by induction-concurrent chemoradiotherapy and accelerated fractionation

Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005 Dec 1;63(5):1331-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2005.05.061. Epub 2005 Sep 19.

Abstract

Purpose: To explore a more effective strategy for treating nasopharyngeal carcinoma with extensive locoregional disease.

Methods and materials: Between October 1998 and January 2003, 49 patients with Stage IV(A-B) disease infiltrating or abutting neurologic structures were treated with induction-concurrent chemotherapy and accelerated radiotherapy (RT). A combination of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil was used in the induction phase and single-agent cisplatin in the concurrent phase. All patients were irradiated with conformal techniques at 2 Gy/fraction, six daily fractions weekly, to a total dose of 70 Gy.

Results: Although 92% of patients had one or more acute toxicities Grade 3 or worse, 96% completed the whole course of RT, and 92% had five or more cycles of chemotherapy. The great majority of toxicities were uneventful, but 1 patient died of neutropenic sepsis. With a median follow-up of 3.1 years, 20 patients had failure at one or more sites and 15 patients died. The 3-year locoregional and distant failure-free rate was 77% and 75%, respectively, and the overall survival rate was 71%. At last follow-up, 27% of patients had developed late Grade 3 or worse toxicity (24% were hearing impairments), but none had radiation-induced neurologic damage.

Conclusion: The current strategy achieved encouraging results for this poor prognostic group, and confirmation of the therapeutic gain by a prospective randomized trial is warranted.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
  • Carcinoma / drug therapy*
  • Carcinoma / pathology
  • Carcinoma / radiotherapy*
  • Cisplatin / administration & dosage
  • Dose Fractionation, Radiation
  • Female
  • Fluorouracil / administration & dosage
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / pathology
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Radiotherapy, Conformal
  • Remission Induction
  • Retrospective Studies

Substances

  • Cisplatin
  • Fluorouracil