Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with additional chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A pooled analysis of propensity score-matching studies

Abstract

Objective: To determine the benefits of adding induction chemotherapy (IC) and adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) based on propensity score-matching (PSM) studies.

Methods: Eligible PSM studies were searched in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases from inception to September 1, 2020. The primary endpoints included overall survival (OS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS).

Results: A total of 14 trials consisting of 4086 participants were included. Significant benefits were observed between IC + CCRT and CCRT for OS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64-0.91) and DMFS (HR, 0.77; 95% CI: 0.64-0.94) with the exception of LRFS (HR, 1.14; 95% CI: 0.90-1.43). However, CCRT + AC did not achieve significant improvements.

Conclusions: IC with CCRT yields significant survival benefits in terms of OS and DMFS, whereas CCRT with AC fails to achieve any additional benefit in all endpoints.

Keywords: adjuvant chemotherapy; induction chemotherapy; meta-analysis; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; propensity score-matching.