Results of combined modality treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer.

Background: Radiotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment in nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC); the addition of chemotherapy has shown improved results.

Objective: To compare the results of concurrent chemoradiation with that of radiotherapy alone in NPC.

Methods: One hundred and ninety consecutive NPC patients, without distant metastasis, who reported to the institute from January 1992 to December 2001, received external-beam radiation to 66 Gy in 33 fractions. Seventy-five of these patients received concurrent chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) for four cycles. We compared the results of treatment in these two groups.

Results: The 5-year disease-free survival rates were 40% and 60%, respectively, for patients who had radiotherapy alone and those who had chemoradiation (P = 0.002), while the median survival was 45 months and 60 months, respectively (P = 0.0028).

Conclusions: A significant improvement in local control and survival was observed by the addition of concurrent chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-FU to radical radiation in this nonrandomized study on patients with NPC.