Docetaxel is effective in heavily pretreated patients with disseminated nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of single-agent docetaxel (Taxotere) as therapy in patients with disseminated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).


METHODS
Patients with histologically confirmed metastatic or recurrent NPC who have failed at least one line of palliative chemotherapy regimen but no prior docetaxel were eligible. Patients received weekly docetaxel every 28 days (docetaxel 30 mg/m(2) on days 1, 8 and 15) and were evaluated every two cycles of treatment of response assessment. Quality-of-life (QoL) assessments during the treatment period were done using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire QLQ-C30; version 3.0.


RESULTS
Thirty patients were assessable for toxicity and response. The median age of the patients was 47 years (range 25-68 years) and the majority of patients had good performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 0-1). Grade 3 or 4 toxicity included fatigue (13%), anemia (10%) and diarrhea (3%) of patients. Eleven (37%) and four (13.3%) patients achieved partial response and stable disease, respectively. The median progression-free survival was 5.3 months and median overall survival of 12.8 months. The partial responders had a mean duration of response of 4.1 months. Docetaxel caused a significant decline in QoL scores during treatment of patients responding or progressing with the treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that weekly docetaxel is well tolerated and is an active agent in patients with disseminated NPC who were previously exposed and largely refractory to platinum-based chemotherapy but can cause a significant decline in QoL during treatment.
Ngeow
J
J
Department of Medical Oncology.
Lim
W T
WT
Department of Medical Oncology.
Leong
S S
SS
Department of Medical Oncology.
Ang
M K
MK
Department of Medical Oncology.
Toh
C K
CK
Department of Medical Oncology.
Gao
F
F
Division of Clinical Trials & Epidemiological Sciences.
Chowbay
B
B
Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory, Division of Medical Sciences, Humphrey Oei Institute of Cancer Research, National Cancer Centre, Singapore, Singapore.
Tan
E H
EH
Department of Medical Oncology. Electronic address: dmoteh@nccs.com.sg.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002277:Carcinoma; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D000077143:Docetaxel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010166:Palliative Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D043823:Taxoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017211:Treatment Failure
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel