Definitive chemoradiotherapy with capecitabine and cisplatin in elder patients with squamous cell esophageal carcinoma.

Abstract

e14643 Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of concurrent or sequential chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with capecitabine and cisplatin in elderly patients with squamous cell esophageal carcinoma. Methods: 75 patients elder than 70 years with histologically proven squamous cell esophageal carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed. 40 patients were treated with concurrent CRT (CCRT) consisted of two cycles of intravenous cisplatin and oral capecitabine during and after radiotherapy. 35 patients were treated with sequential chemoradiotherapy (SCRT) as two cycles of capecitabine plus cisplatin before and after radiotherapy. The response rate, overall survival (OS), progression free survival (PFS) and toxicity were compared between two groups. Results: The response rate in the CCRT group was significantly higher than those in the SCRT group (82.5% vs 60.0%, p=0.023). The median OS time and PFS time of the CCRT group were significantly longer than those of the SCRT group (OS: 30.5 vs. 15.7 months, p=0.01; PFS: 25.4 vs. 11.6 months, p=0.014). The acute toxicities was more frequent in the CCRT group than SCRT group, but the grades 3 and 4 acute and late toxicities were similar in the two groups. Conclusions: It suggested that both CCRT and SCRT with capecitabine and cisplatin are tolerable and effective in elderly patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Concurrent CRT might be superior to sequential chemoradiotherapy.