Efficacy of paclitaxel plus cisplatin in advanced esophageal squamous cell cancer: Further analysis of single center, prospective study.

Abstract

e15174 Background: To evaluate efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel plus cisplatin in advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: In this single-center, prospective study, chemo-naïve patients with metastastic and recurred ESCC received paclitaxel 175mg/m2 d1 and cisplatin was given on day 1, 2, at a total dose of 75 mg/m2 over 60 minutes, repeated every 21 days. Efficacy was evaluated every 2 cycles. Results: 133 patients were enrolled between June 2006 and November 2010. The median cycles of chemotherapy accepted were only 3. The objective response rate(RR) of paclitaxel and cisplatin in ESCC patients was 34.2%. After a median follow-up of 24.2 months, the progression free survival (PFS) was limited to 7.0 months (95%CI 5.68-8.32), meanwhile the median overall survival (mOS) was 12.0 months (95%CI 9.93-14.07). In the multivariate Cox regression analysis, distant organ metastasis remained an independent predictor of OS with a hazard ratio of 1.460 (95% CI 0.871-2.446, P = 0.041). 31 patients received radiotherapy after chemotherapy with significantly longer PFS than those without (6.8 months vs. 10 months, p = 0.037), but no difference in OS was observed (12.0 vs. 13.0 months, p = 0.23).Adverse events were tolerable. Conclusions: The efficacy of paclitaxel plus cisplatin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is promising. Sequencial chemoradiotherapy could release local progression but no help to overall survival.