Safety and efficacy of docetaxel combined with cisplatin as induction chemotherapy followed by cisplatin concurrent chemoradiotherapy plus gemcitabine as adjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A prospective and multicenter phase II trial.

Abstract

6064 Background: Radiation therapy is the only curative treatment modality for nonmetastatic nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). Concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) is the standard treatment strategy for NPC in locally advanced stages. However, the results after such treatment are suboptimal. Clearly, novel treatment strategies are needed to further improve patients’ survival rates. This trial aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of a new treatment strategy. Methods: Patients with stage III – IVa-b NPC received TP (docetaxel 75 mg/m2, cisplatin 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks for 2-3 cycles) followed by cisplatin chemotherapy concurrently with either 3-dimentional conformal radiation therapy or intensity-modulated radiation therapy plus gemcitabine (1000mg/m2 every 2 weeks for 2 cycles) as adjuvant chemotherapy. Objective response rates and acute toxicity were assessed based on RECIST (1.1) and CTCAE v.4.0, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate survival rates. This trial is registered with the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry, number ChiCTR-OIC-17011464. Results: From July 2010 to July 2017, 20 eligible patients with nonmetastatic stage III-IVb NPC were enrolled. The objective response rates were 90% (3 complete responses [CRs] and 15 partial responses [PRs]) after two or three cycles of induction chemotherapy (ICT) and 100% (17 CRs and three PRs) after CCRT plus gemcitabine adjuvant chemotherapy, respectively. With a median follow-up time of 41 months, the 3-year overall survival rates were 90% (18/20,95% confidence interval [CI], 76.9%-100%).The 3-year progression-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and local progression-free survival rates were 80% (16/20,95% CI, 62.5%-97.5%), 85% (17/20,95% CI, 69.4%-100%),95% (19/20,95% CI, 85,4%-100%), respectively. The most frequent grade 3–4 toxicities were neutropenia (3/20,15%) and nausea (2/20,10%) after ICT and thrombocytopenia (6/20,30%) and leukopenia (6/20,30%) after CCRT plus gemcitabine adjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant TP followed by concurrent chemoradiation plus gemcitabine as adjuvant chemotherapy was well tolerated and produced promising outcomes in patients with LA-NPC in this hypothesis-generating study. The authors concluded that randomized controlled trials are warranted to definitively confirm this aggressive and potentially efficacious strategy. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR-OIC-17011464.