Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficiency and safety of a combination of thalidomide and chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) for treating esophageal cancer (EC). Eligible patients received two cycles of chemotherapy using paclitaxel liposome and cisplatin concurrently with three-dimensional radiotherapy. Following radiotherapy, two cycles of maintenance chemotherapy were performed. Patients with elevation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) during radiotherapy were randomly divided into: i) a test group (n=31), who received a combination of CRT and thalidomide; and ii) a control group (n=30), who received CRT only. Patients with locally advanced EC in the test group demonstrated a significantly improved 3-year overall survival (OS) rate, progression-free survival (PFS) rate, local control and median PFS time compared with the control group (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) stage was associated with the OS time, while TNM stage and the residence of cancer cells following radiotherapy were associated with PFS time. The present data indicate that thalidomide contributes to an improvement of prognosis for patients with locally advanced EC with elevated serum VEGF levels during radiotherapy. In addition, the toxicities induced by thalidomide were demonstrated to be tolerable.
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