Effects of Radiotherapy Combined with Concurrent Weekly Low-dose Docetaxel in the Treatment of Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Objective To investigate the clinical effects of radiotherapy combined with weekly low-dose docetaxel in the treatment of patients with inoperable esophageal cancer.Methods A total of 86 patients with esophageal carcinoma were randomly divided into chemoradiotherapy group (n=45) and radiotherapy group (n=41).Radiotherapy was the same for the two groups,which included 40 Gy in conventional technique and 26~30 Gy of boost dose by conformal technique,with a total dose of 66～70 Gy/33～35F/6.5～7W.Patients in the chemoradiotherapy group also received weekly docetaxel of 20 mg concurrent with the radiotherapy.Upper digestive tract radiograph,chest CT and upper abdomen ultrasound were performed before and after the treatment.Results The overall response rate (CR+RR) were 86.7% and 68.3% in the chemoradiotherapy and the radiotherapy group,which was significantly different(P0.05). The rate of hematological toxicity was higher in the chemoradiotherapy group than that in the radiotherapy group.The 1 year overall survival rate was 88.9% and 65.8%,respectively.Conclusion Low-dose weekly docetaxel combined with radiotherapy may improve the short-term survival rate of patients with esophageal cancer.