Clinical Application of Chemotherapy Combined With Radiotherapy For Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective To evaluate the effect of chemotherapy in patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).Methods From August,1998 to August,2000,80 patients with stageⅢ,ⅣA NPC were randomly assigned to receive either simple radiotherapy(RT group,control group,40 cases) or chemotherapy plus radiotherapy(CT+RT group,40 cases).In each group,20 patients received radiotherapy with lateral facio-cervical portals.Radiotherapy technique and dose were same in both groups.In CT+RT group,patients received cisplatin(30 mg/m2/d,days 1～3),Calcium folinate(CF,200 mg/m2/d,days 1～5),5-Fluorouracil(5-Fu,375 mg/m2/d,days 1～5),every 3～4 weeks.The patients received one cycle,followed by radiotherapy.And the cycle was repeated after radiotherapy for 1 to 5 times.Results 3-year overall survival rate(0S) and 3-year disease-free survival rate(DFS) were 70.0% and 59.2% for the CT+RT group,57.5% and 38.6% for the RT group,respectively,showing a significant difference between the two groups(P0.05).3-year local control rate and 3-year incidence of distant metastasis-free were also markedly different betweeNTHe CT+RT Group and the RT group(81.6%v.s.75.9%,and 84.1% v.s.66.1%)(P0.05).Conclusion Radiotherapy plus chemotherapy can increase DFS and reduce distant metastasis for patients with locoregionally advanced NPC.It also have a tendency to improve OS.