Long-term results of definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy using S-1 in the treatment of geriatric patients with esophageal cancer

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency and safety of using S-1 as monotherapy and maintenance therapy combined with definitive concurrent radiotherapy for elderly patients with esophageal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 2009 to December 2010, 68 elderly patients were included. Radiotherapy was delivered with a daily fraction of 1.8–2.0 Gy to a total radiation dose of 54.0–60.0 Gy. Preplanned concurrent S-1 (80 mg/m(2)/d) was given on days 1–14, every 3 weeks. After concurrent chemoradiotherapy, maintenance S-1 was repeated up to four cycles. RESULTS: The median age of the enrolled patients was 76 years (range: 70–88 years), and the clinical stages were stage I (two patients), stage II (24 patients), stage III (28 patients), and stage IV (14 patients). A total of 51 (75.0%) patients finished treatment on schedule, with a median of five cycles of S-1, in which 35 (51.5%) patients achieved complete response. The median follow-up time was 42.7 months, and the median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) times were 25.7 months and 21.5 months, respectively. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS and PFS rates were 70.6%, 41.8%, and 25.9% and 68.1%, 32.9%, and 15.9%, respectively. Grade ≥3 neutropenia and leukopenia were found in 14 patients and 13 patients, respectively. The most common nonhematologic toxicity was esophagitis including six patients and one patient with grades 3 and 4, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that cycles of S-1 and complete response were strong factors for OS and PFS. CONCLUSION: For geriatric patients with esophageal cancer, S-1 as monotherapy and maintenance chemotherapy in combination with definitive concurrent radiation therapy yielded satisfactory survival outcomes with tolerable toxicities. More studies are highly warranted to further clarify this issue.