Efficacy of pegfilgrastim administration in patients with esophageal cancer treated with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil.

Chemotherapy is among the standard treatments for esophageal cancer. The docetaxel, 5-fluorouracil, and cisplatin (DCF) protocol yields a better response rate than 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin. However, the incidence of side effects, such as febrile neutropenia and hematologic toxicity, is also significantly high with the DCF protocol. The granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and pegfilgrastim are prophylactically administered to prevent febrile neutropenia. This retrospective study evaluated the efficacy and safety of pegfilgrastim in patients receiving DCF therapy. Of the 65 patients who were administered DCF therapy in our hospital from 2011 through 2016, 21 received pegfilgrastim 24 hours or more after the end of chemotherapy. The protocol comprised 70 mg/m2 each of docetaxel and cisplatin on day 1 and 700 mg/m2 5-fluorouracil on days 1 to 5 via intravenous injection in a 3-week cycle. The primary endpoint was the rate of grade 3-4 neutropenia and febrile neutropenia. The mean patient age was 66.4 years. The incidence of grade 3 and 4 neutropenia was 14.2 % and 11.4 %, respectively, in the pegfilgrastim group and 31.9 % and 37.8 %, respectively, in the non-pegfilgrastim group. The incidence of febrile neutropenia in the pegfilgrastim group and non-pegfilgrastim group was 11.4 % and 40.3 %, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that the incidence of neutropenia and febrile neutropenia was significantly different (p<0.05) between the two groups. Pegfilgrastim prevents severe neutropenia and febrile neutropenia in patients with esophageal cancer who are treated according to the DCF protocol.