Therapeutic effects of sequential chemoradiotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin on locally advanced laryngeal cancer

OBJECTIVE: To explore the therapeutic effects of sequential chemoradiotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin on locally advanced laryngeal cancer (LALC). METHODS: Fifty LALC patients who were treated in our hospital between January 2010 and January 2012 were selected and randomly divided into an observation group and a control group (n=25). The two groups were given conventional radiotherapy in the same manner, before which two cycles of chemotherapy were performed. The observation group intravenously infused with 500 mg/m(2) pemetrexed on d1 and 25 mg/m(2) cisplatin on d1-3, with 28 days as a cycle. The control group was intravenously infused with 25 mg/m(2) cisplatin on d1-3 and 400 mg/m(2) fluorouracil, with 28 days as a cycle. The short-term effects and adverse reactions of both groups were observed after treatment, and their survival was observed by follow-up for five years. RESULTS: The response rate was 84% (21/25) in the observation group and 64% (16/25) in the control group, between which the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The differences in the incidence rates of short-term adverse reactions such as grade III-IV gastrointestinal reactions and bone marrow suppression were not statistically significant between PC regimen (pemetrexed combined with cisplatin) and PF regimen (cisplatin combined with fluorouracil) (P>0.05). The incidence of long-term adverse reactions such as grade III-IV laryngeal edemas, laryngeal cartilage inflammation and laryngeal cartilage necrosis showed no significant differences between the two groups (P>0.05). The median survival was 3.3 years after PC chemotherapy and 2.8 years after PF chemotherapy, between which the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The levels of serum tumor markers significantly decreased after PC and PF treatments compared with those before (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Combining PC chemotherapy with radiotherapy has satisfactory short-term therapeutic effects on LALC, and the resulting adverse effects can be tolerated. Therefore, this strategy is worthy of promotion and application in clinical practice.