Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology Advance Access originally published online on August 12, 2006
Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 2006 36(10):620-625; doi:10.1093/jjco/hyl083
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© 2006 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research
Efficacy and Feasibility of Cisplatin-Based Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma*
Divisions of 1 Radiology and of 2 Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, 3 Department of Radiation Oncology, Hyogo Medical Center for Adults, Akashi, Hyogo, 4 Department of Radiology, National Hospital Organization Himeji Medical Center, Himeji, Hyogo and 5 Department of Radiation Oncology, Hyogo Prefectural Tsukaguchi Hospital, Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan
For reprints and all correspondence: Ryohei Sasaki, Division of Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-2 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0017, Japan. E-mail: rsasaki{at}med.kobe-u.ac.jp
Received January 4, 2006; accepted June 26, 2006
Objective: To investigate the efficacy and feasibility of a cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) protocol based on Intergroup Study 0099 for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
Methods: Sixteen patients with stage II–IVB NPC were treated with a protocol of cisplatin-based concurrent CRT and adjuvant chemotherapy from 1998 to 2002. Three courses of cisplatin (80 mg/m2) were scheduled during 70 Gy of radiotherapy (RT), and two agents of adjuvant chemotherapy (FP regimen: cisplatin 80 mg/m2 and 5-fluorouracil 800 mg/m2/day by 4-day continuous infusion) were challenged. Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) rates were calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method.
Results: Median follow-up duration was 45 months. Both 3-year OS and RFS rates were 81%. Proportions of patients who tolerated each scheduled treatment were 94% for RT, 63% for concurrent chemotherapy and 38% for adjuvant chemotherapy.
Conclusions: Our protocol of the cisplatin-based concurrent CRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of FP regimen was effective for Japanese patients with NPC. However, the doses and numbers of cycle of chemotherapy need to be modified because of the low compliance rate. Larger numbers of data accumulation and/or multi-institutional trials may be warranted to confirm the efficacy of this protocol.
Key Words: nasopharyngeal carcinoma • radiotherapy • concurrent chemoradiotherapy • cisplatin • Intergroup Study 0099
* Presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of Japan Radiological Society, 11–13 April 2003, Yokohama, Japan.