To investigate the tolerability and feasibility of induction gemcitabine and carboplatin chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy with concurrent cisplatin in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Twenty-eight patients with previously untreated non-keratinising nasopharyngeal carcinoma, with stage IIb to IV disease were enroled to receive three cycles of carboplatin AUC 5 and gemcitabine 1 g/m(2) day 1 and 8 every 21-days, followed by 70 Gy of radiotherapy with concurrent cisplatin 20 mg/m(2)/day for 5 days of weeks 1, 4 and 7.

26/28 (93.0%) patients received all three cycles of induction chemotherapy. All 27 patients who commenced chemoradiotherapy received 70 Gy in 35 fractions of radiotherapy with at least two cycles of concurrent cisplatin. The three-year time to locoregional failure rate was 92.9% (95% CI: 75.5-98.2%) and the three-year overall survival rate was 89.3% (95% CI: 71.6-96.5%). Induction chemotherapy was well tolerated with 5/28 (17.9%) patients experiencing grade 3 non-haematological toxicities and no reported episodes of febrile neutropenia or grade 4 toxicity. For the 27 patients who received radiotherapy, no acute grade 4 radiation toxicities and only 2/27 (7.4%) late grade 4 radiation adverse events were observed.

The use of induction carboplatin and gemcitabine followed by chemoradiotherapy is feasible, with acceptable toxicity, and is a promising regimen for the treatment of locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.