Induction Chemotherapy plus Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy in Locoregionally Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma¹

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is an unquestionable treatment for early nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the contribution of induction chemotherapy (IC) after CCRT remains controversial for the treatment of locoregionally advanced NPC. A pooled meta-analysis including 10 randomised controlled trials and 2,280 patients, demonstrated that IC plus CCRT treatment significantly improved the overall survival, progression-free survival, distant metastasis failure-free survival and loco-regional failure-free survival in patients with locoregionally advanced NPC as compared to treatment with CCRT alone. Although, patients treated with IC and CCRT had a slightly higher incidence of grade 3-4 leucopenia and thrombocytopenia than with CCRT alone, the results suggested that combined IC and CCRT therapy was an effective treatment regimen for locoregionally advanced NPC.

References

1. Wang et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(10):e19360.