Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2022 Jun 16
Final Overall Survival Analysis of Gemcitabine and Cisplatin Induction Chemotherapy in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Multicenter, Randomized Phase III Trial.   
ABSTRACT
JCO We previously reported significantly improved failure-free survival using gemcitabine plus cisplatin induction chemotherapy in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Here, we present the final overall survival (OS) analysis. In this multicenter, randomized trial, patients were assigned to be treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone (standard therapy, n = 238) or gemcitabine and cisplatin induction chemotherapy before concurrent chemoradiotherapy (n = 242). With a median follow-up of 69.8 months, the induction chemotherapy group had a significantly higher 5-year OS (87.9% 78.8%, hazard ratio, 0.51 [95% CI 0.34 to 0.78]; = .001) and a comparable risk of late toxicities (≥ grade 3, 11.3% 11.4%). Notably, the depth of the tumor response to induction chemotherapy correlated significantly and positively with survival (complete response partial response stable/progressive disease, 5-year OS, 100% 88.4% 61.5%, = .005). Besides, patients with a low pretreatment cell-free Epstein-Barr virus DNA load (< 4,000 copies/mL) might not benefit from induction chemotherapy (5-year OS, 90.6% 91.4%, = .77). In conclusion, induction chemotherapy before concurrent chemoradiotherapy improved OS significantly in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, without increasing the risk of late toxicities. Tumor response to induction chemotherapy and pretreatment cell-free Epstein-Barr virus DNA might be useful to guide individualized treatment.

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