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Title: Metronomic Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Treatment Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients With Postradiation Persistently Detectable Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with persistently detectable plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA (pEBV DNA) after curative radiation therapy plus induction/concurrent chemotherapy. Methods and Materials: The study population consisted of 625 NPC patients with available pEBV DNA levels before and after treatment. Eighty-five patients with persistently detectable pEBV DNA after 1 week of completing radiation therapy were eligible for this retrospective study. Of the 85 patients, 33 were administered adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of oral tegafur-uracil (2 capsules twice daily) for 12 months with (n=4) or without (n=29) preceding intravenous chemotherapy of mitomycin-C, epirubicin, and cisplatin. The remaining 52 patients who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy served as the control group. Results: Baseline patient characteristics at diagnosis (age, sex, pathologic type, performance status, T classification, N classification, and overall stage), as well as previous treatment modality, were comparable in both arms. After a median follow-up of 70 months for surviving patients, 45.5% (15 of 33 patients) with adjuvant chemotherapy and 71.2% (37 of 52 patients) without adjuvant chemotherapy experienced tumor relapses (P=.0323). There were a significant reduction in distant failure (P=.0034) but not in local or regional recurrence. The 5-year overall survival rate was 71.6% for patientsmore » with adjuvant chemotherapy and 28.7% for patients without adjuvant chemotherapy (hazard ratio 0.27; 95% confidence interval 0.17-0.55; P<.0001). Conclusions: Our retrospective data showed that adjuvant chemotherapy can reduce distant failure and improve overall survival in NPC patients with persistently detectable pEBV DNA after curative radiation therapy plus induction/concurrent chemotherapy.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ;  [4];  [5];  [6]; ;  [3];  [1]
  1. Institute of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan (China)
  2. Section of Basic Medicine, Department of Nursing, Hung Kuang University, Taichung, Taiwan (China)
  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan (China)
  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan (China)
  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital–Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan (China)
  6. Department of Radiation Oncology, St. Martin De Porres Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan (China)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22416542
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 89; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0360-3016
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE; CARCINOMAS; CHEMOTHERAPY; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DIAGNOSIS; DNA; MITOMYCIN; ONCOGENIC VIRUSES; PATIENTS; RADIOTHERAPY; URACILS

Citation Formats

Twu, Chih-Wen, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, Wang, Wen-Yi, Chen, Chien-Chih, Liang, Kai-Li, Jiang, Rong-San, Wu, Ching-Te, Shih, Yi-Ting, Lin, Po-Ju, Liu, Yi-Chun, Lin, Jin-Ching, Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, and Department of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. Metronomic Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Treatment Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients With Postradiation Persistently Detectable Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1016/J.IJROBP.2014.01.052.
Twu, Chih-Wen, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, Wang, Wen-Yi, Chen, Chien-Chih, Liang, Kai-Li, Jiang, Rong-San, Wu, Ching-Te, Shih, Yi-Ting, Lin, Po-Ju, Liu, Yi-Chun, Lin, Jin-Ching, Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, & Department of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. Metronomic Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Treatment Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients With Postradiation Persistently Detectable Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJROBP.2014.01.052
Twu, Chih-Wen, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, Wang, Wen-Yi, Chen, Chien-Chih, Liang, Kai-Li, Jiang, Rong-San, Wu, Ching-Te, Shih, Yi-Ting, Lin, Po-Ju, Liu, Yi-Chun, Lin, Jin-Ching, Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, and Department of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. 2014. "Metronomic Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Treatment Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients With Postradiation Persistently Detectable Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJROBP.2014.01.052.
@article{osti_22416542,
title = {Metronomic Adjuvant Chemotherapy Improves Treatment Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients With Postradiation Persistently Detectable Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus Deoxyribonucleic Acid},
author = {Twu, Chih-Wen and Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan and Wang, Wen-Yi and Chen, Chien-Chih and Liang, Kai-Li and Jiang, Rong-San and Wu, Ching-Te and Shih, Yi-Ting and Lin, Po-Ju and Liu, Yi-Chun and Lin, Jin-Ching and Department of Radiation Oncology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan and Department of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan},
abstractNote = {Purpose: To investigate the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with persistently detectable plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA (pEBV DNA) after curative radiation therapy plus induction/concurrent chemotherapy. Methods and Materials: The study population consisted of 625 NPC patients with available pEBV DNA levels before and after treatment. Eighty-five patients with persistently detectable pEBV DNA after 1 week of completing radiation therapy were eligible for this retrospective study. Of the 85 patients, 33 were administered adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of oral tegafur-uracil (2 capsules twice daily) for 12 months with (n=4) or without (n=29) preceding intravenous chemotherapy of mitomycin-C, epirubicin, and cisplatin. The remaining 52 patients who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy served as the control group. Results: Baseline patient characteristics at diagnosis (age, sex, pathologic type, performance status, T classification, N classification, and overall stage), as well as previous treatment modality, were comparable in both arms. After a median follow-up of 70 months for surviving patients, 45.5% (15 of 33 patients) with adjuvant chemotherapy and 71.2% (37 of 52 patients) without adjuvant chemotherapy experienced tumor relapses (P=.0323). There were a significant reduction in distant failure (P=.0034) but not in local or regional recurrence. The 5-year overall survival rate was 71.6% for patients with adjuvant chemotherapy and 28.7% for patients without adjuvant chemotherapy (hazard ratio 0.27; 95% confidence interval 0.17-0.55; P<.0001). Conclusions: Our retrospective data showed that adjuvant chemotherapy can reduce distant failure and improve overall survival in NPC patients with persistently detectable pEBV DNA after curative radiation therapy plus induction/concurrent chemotherapy.},
doi = {10.1016/J.IJROBP.2014.01.052},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22416542}, journal = {International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics},
issn = {0360-3016},
number = 1,
volume = 89,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}