title: Assessment of radiotherapy combined with adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the clinical efficacy of radiotherapy combined with concurrent combination chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred patients with stage III/IV NPC were randomly allocated into the treatment group (N=100) and the control group (N=100). Patients in the control group received conventional fractionated radiotherapy, while patients in the treatment group received conventional fractionated radiotherapy combined with concurrent combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Short-term efficacy, radiotherapy toxicity, shortand long-term survival were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The short-term response rate of the treatment group was 96%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (87%, p<0.05). The local radiation toxicity of the treatment group was similar to that of the control group p>0.05), but the hematological and gastrointestinal toxicities were significantly higher in the treatment group p<0.05). The 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 87, 80, and 76%, respectively, in the treatment group and 74, 64, and 51%, respectively, in the control group, significantly favoring the treatment group p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Radiotherapy with concurrent combination chemotherapy can improve the prognosis of patients with advanced NPC but at the cost of significant toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Hainan Provincial People's Hospital, Haikou, Hainan Province, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Baizhen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Shaomin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yiming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002277:Carcinoma; D059186:Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects; D002681:China; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D002945:Cisplatin; D005472:Fluorouracil