Concomitant chemoradiotherapy with CDDP and 5FU for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The initial evaluation and side effects

Concomitant chemoradiotherapy with CDDP and 5FU was given to 18 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma during January 1994-October 1996. One and 17 were in Stages III-IV respectively. None had distant metastasis. The median duration of follow-up of all patients was 23.5 months (6-45). Objective response (CR+PR) of the primary lesion and the regional nodes was 18/18 (100%), whereas CR was 2/18 (11%). CR+PR and CR at the primary lesion were 18/18 (100%) and 5/18 (28%) respectively. Two patients died of disease at T site. One patient was alive with disease. The remaining 15 (83%) patients were relapse free alive. There were 2 relapses, 1 at T+M, and 1 at T+N sites. Side effects, especially myelosuppression and mucositis, were severe. Leukopenia and mucositis in grade 3-4 were 78% and 89% respectively. In conclusion, this regimen has been effective in short term follow-up. However, because of severe side effects, further modifications are required. Long term follow-up are required to define final effectiveness of this regimen. (author)