The combination of systemic therapy and locoregional radiotherapy prolongs survival in newly diagnosed metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to assess the role of locoregional radiotherapy (RT) when used in combination with systemic chemotherapy, for patients with newly diagnosed metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), in a non-endemic region of northern China. METHODS: In total, 611 patients with NPCs were newly diagnosed between June 2011 and June 2016 following visits to our hospital; of these, 32 patients presented with metastasis at initial diagnosis. Among these 32 patients, 29 had single-organ metastasis and 3 had multiple-organ metastasis. All patients were treated with RT for local and regional disease. RESULTS: The median follow-up for all patients was 20 months (range 9–59 months), and median survival was not achieved (some patients had succumbed) at the time of the last follow-up. The 2-year overall survival (OS) rate was 75.2%, and 3-year OS rate was 50.1%. There was a significant difference between patients with single- and multiple-organ metastasis: 2-year OS was 67.5% for single- vs 0% for multiple-organ metastasis (p=0.039). Patients treated with intensity-modulated RT had a better prognosis than patients treated by conventional RT: 2-year OS was 76.6% for single- vs 44.4% for multiple-organ metastasis (no significant difference was found between the 2 groups, p=0.297). For patients with progression (all were with distant disease progression), the median progression time was 8 months (6–22 months), and the median survival after disease progression was 6 months (2–14 months). CONCLUSION: For patients with newly diagnosed metastatic NPCs, especially with single-organ metastasis, the addition of RT to systemic chemotherapy improved survival and disease control compared with historical cohort.