Role of intensity-modulated radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy in patients with stage T 1-2N 1M 0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a retrospective study / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) combined with chemotherapy for treating patients with T 1-2N 1M 0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods:343 patients diagnosed with T 1-2N 1M 0 NPC in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from January 2008 to December 2016 were recruited in this study. All patients received IMRT and divided into the radiotherapy (RT) and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) groups. Patients in the CRT group were further assigned into the concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), induction chemotherapy+ CCRT (IC+ CCRT) and CCRT+ adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) groups. Locoregional failure-free survival (LRFFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), progression-free survival (PFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by Kaplan- Meier method. Multivariate prognostic analysis was performed by Cox models. Results:The median follow-up time for surviving patients (303/343) was 91(range 49-138) months. The 5-year OS, CSS, PFS, LRFFS, and DMFS rates in the CRT group were not superior to those of the RT group (93.7% 93.9%, 93.7% 93.9%, 89.0% 87.7%, 93.8% 92.8%, 93.8% 91.2%, all P>0.05). No significant difference was found in treatment outcomes of patients with T 1N 1 or T 2N 1 NPC between two groups (all P>0.05). In multivariable analyses, only age was an independent prognostic factor for OS, PFS, CSS and DMFS, and negative correlation was found between them. No survival benefits were achieved in the CCRT, IC+ CCRT, CCRT+ AC and RT groups, and no significant differences were found in clinical efficacy among the three combined (all P>0.05). Conclusions:IMRT alone yields comparable clinical efficacy to CRT in treating patients with T 1-2N 1M 0 NPC. However, whether CT can be eliminated in the T 1-2N 1M 0 population still needs further confirmation by prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trials.