title: A Comparative Effectiveness Study of Two Oral Chemotherapy Drugs (UFT vs. Capecitabine) in Neoadjuvant Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Patients with Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer.
abstract: Capecitabine is the current standard oral chemotherapy used in neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (NCCRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) in North America. We compared the effectiveness of another oral chemotherapy agent, UFT (an oral combination of uracil and tegafur), to that of capecitabine.
  
  
  
  We identified LARC patients diagnosed from 2007 to 2011 using a population-based registry in Taiwan (Health and Welfare Data Science Center, HWDC) and constructed a propensity score matched cohort to balance observable potential confounders. We compared the hazard ratio (HR) of death between the UFT and capecitabine groups. We performed supplementary analysis (SA) to evaluate the robustness of our finding regarding potential unobserved confounders (SA-1) and the robustness of the result in a subgroup when an additional potential confounder was taken into account (SA-2).
  
  
  
  Our study population comprised of 200 patients balanced with respect to observed co-variables. UFT lowered the hazard of death significantly more than capecitabine (HR=0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.35-0.95, p=0.03). Our result was moderately sensitive in SA-1 but not significant in SA-2.
  
  
  
  The effectiveness of UFT in NCCRT for LARC is probably non-inferior to that of capecitabine.
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C. d16181@gmail.com.|School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Chun-Ru
authors: CR
authors: Chien
authors: School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.|Department of Colorectal Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: William Tzu-Liang
authors: WT
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Colorectal Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Hwei-Min
authors: HM
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Colorectal Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Tao-Wei
authors: TW
authors: Ke
authors: Department of Colorectal Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Hua-Che
authors: HC
authors: Chiang
authors: Department of Colorectal Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Sheng-Chi
authors: SC
authors: Chang
authors: Department of Colorectal Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Yu-Chun
authors: YC
authors: Huang
authors: Division of Hematology and Oncology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Che-Hung
authors: CH
authors: Lin
authors: Division of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Chun-Lin
authors: CL
authors: Huang
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Ying-Chun
authors: YC
authors: Lin
authors: Department of Pathology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Tsung-Wei
authors: TW
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Chia-Chin
authors: CC
authors: Li
authors: Cancer Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: K S Clifford
authors: KS
authors: Chao
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069287:Capecitabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012074:Remission Induction; D015996:Survival Rate; D005641:Tegafur / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014498:Uracil / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D005641:Tegafur; D014498:Uracil; D000069287:Capecitabine
keywords: Rectal cancer; UFT; capecitabine; neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy