Preliminary report of the asian-oceanian clinical oncology association randomized trial comparing cisplatin and epirubicin followed by radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone in the treatment of patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

This multicenter randomized study did not demonstrate any benefit with the addition of cisplatin-epirubicin neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma; therefore routine administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to this target group cannot be recommended. Although the overall incidence of recurrence was reduced with the addition of chemotherapy in the efficacy analysis, the overall survival was not affected. A more effective chemotherapy regimen, the selection of an appropriate target group, and the use of an alternative strategy for combining chemoradiotherapy should be explored in future trials.