Concurrent weekly docetaxel chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy for stage III and IVA-B nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Cisplatin is the most common chemotherapeutic agent for loco-regionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC); however, toxicity is a limiting factor for some patients. We retrospectively compared the efficacy and toxicity of weekly docetaxel-based and cisplatin-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy in loco-regionally advanced NPC.


METHODS
Eighty-four patients with Stage III and IVA-B NPCs, treated between 2007 and 2008, were retrospectively analyzed. Thirty received weekly docetaxel-based concurrent chemotherapy, and 43 were given weekly cisplatin-based concurrent chemotherapy. Radiotherapy was administered using a conventional technique (seven weeks, 2.0 Gy per fraction, total dose 70-74 Gy) with 6-8 Gy boosts for some patients with locally advanced disease.


RESULTS
Median follow-up time was 42.3 months (range, 8.6-50.8 months). There were no significant differences in the 3-year loco-regional failure-free survival (85.6% vs. 92.3%; p=0.264), distant failure-free survival (87.0% vs. 92.5%; p=0.171), progression-free survival (85.7% vs. 88.4%; p=0.411) or overall survival (86.5% vs. 92.5%, p=0.298) of patients treated concurrently with docetaxel or cisplatin. Severe toxicity was not common in either group.


CONCLUSIONS
Weekly docetaxel-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy is potentially effective and has a tolerable toxicity; however, further investigations are required to determine if docetaxel is superior to cisplatin for advanced stage NPC.
Department of Radiation Oncology, First People's Hospital of Foshan Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University, Foshan, China.
Wei-Hong
WH
Wei
Xiu-Yu
XY
Cai
Tao
T
Xu
Guo-Yi
GY
Zhang
Yong-Feng
YF
Wu
Wei-Neng
WN
Feng
Li
L
Lin
Yan-Ming
YM
Deng
Qiu-Xia
QX
Lu
Zhe-Li
ZL
Huang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002277:Carcinoma; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D000077143:Docetaxel; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D055815:Young Adult
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel; D002945:Cisplatin