Prognostic value of chemotherapy in addition to concurrent chemoradiotherapy in T3-4N0-1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a propensity score matching study

PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the contribution of induction (IC) or adjuvant (AC) chemotherapy additional to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for patients with T3-4N0-1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in the era of intensity-modulate radiotherapy (IMRT). METHOD AND MATERIALS: We retrospectively reviewed the data on 685 patients with newly diagnosed T3-4N0-1 NPC. Propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to match patients. Survival outcomes between different groups were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method and compared using log-rank test. Cox proportional hazard model was adopted to establish independent prognostic factors. RESULTS: In total, 236 pairs were selected from the primary cohort. Univariate analysis revealed 3-year overall survival (OS) (90.8% vs. 90.3%, P = 0.820), distant failure-free survival (DFFS) (87.3% vs. 89.4%, P = 0.896) and locoregional failure-free survival (LRFFS) (95.4% vs. 93.0%, P = 0.311) rates were comparable between CCRT plus IC/AC and CCRT alone groups. Multivariate analysis found that treatment group was not an independent prognostic factors for OS (HR, 0.964; 95% CI, 0.620-1.499; P = 0.869), DFFS (HR, 1.036; 95% CI, 0.626-1.714; P = 0.890) and LRFFS (HR, 0.670; 95% CI, 0.338-1.327; P = 0.250). Further subgroup analysis according to overall stage also obtained similar results. CONCLUSION: Patients with T3-4N0-1 NPC receiving CCRT could not benefit from additional induction or adjuvant chemotherapy in the era of IMRT.