Radiotherapy alone and with concurrent chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

We sought to evaluate clinical outcomes and toxicities of radiation therapy (RT) alone compared to RT with concurrent chemotherapy (CCT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment. We conducted a retrospective review of consecutive patients with biopsy-proven nonmetastatic NPC who underwent RT at our institution. From May 2001 to April 2015; 62 newly diagnosed NPC patients were treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) or intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with or without CCT. The patients were classified as follows: 8% stage I, 15% stage II, 32% stage III, and 45% stage IVA/IVB. A total of 76% of tumors were World Health Organization types II or III. Acute and late toxicities were graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional progression-free survival (LRPFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were analyzed. The median follow-up period for living patients was 53 months. The median actual delivered dose was 70 Gy with a range of 28 to 70 Gy in fraction sizes of 2 Gy. The estimated 5-year OS, PFS, LRPFS, and DMFS rates were 72.7%, 59.8%, 77.9%, and 84.2%, respectively. The use of CCT was a predictive factor of significantly better OS and PFS, whereas stage IV was a significant predictor of poor OS and PFS. The most severe acute toxicities included Grade 3 mucositis in 56% and Grade 3 dermatitis in 8%. Subset analysis revealed that Grade 2 xerostomia was significantly lower in the IMRT (23%) group than in the 3D-CRT (52%) group (P = .02). RT yielded favorable outcomes. CCT was associated with longer PFS and OS than RT alone.