Assessment of radiotherapy combined with adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a prospective study.

PURPOSE

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).

CONCLUSION

Radiotherapy with concurrent combination chemotherapy can improve the prognosis of patients with advanced NPC but at the cost of significant toxicity.