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Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics
Medknow Publications on behalf of the Association of Radiation Oncologists of India (AROI)
ISSN: 0973-1482 EISSN: 0973-1482
Vol. 5, No. 2, 2009, pp. 102-106
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Bioline Code: cr09026
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2009, pp. 102-106
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Results of combined modality treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer
Venkitaraman, Ramachandran; Ramanan, S Ganapathy; Vasanthan, A & Sagar, Tenali Gnana
Abstract
Context: Radiotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment in nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC); the addition of chemotherapy has shown improved results.
Aims: To compare the results of concurrent chemoradiation with that of radiotherapy alone in NPC.
Materials and Methods: One hundred and ninety consecutive NPC patients, without distant metastasis, who reported to the institute from January 1992 to December 2001, received external-beam radiation to 66 Gy in 33 fractions. Seventy-five of these patients received concurrent chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) for four cycles. We compared the results of treatment in these two groups.
Results: The 5-year disease-free survival rates were 40% and 60%, respectively, for patients who had radiotherapy alone and those who had chemoradiation (P = 0.002), while the median survival was 45 months and 60 months, respectively (P = 0.0028).
Conclusion: A significant improvement in local control and survival was observed by the addition of concurrent chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-FU to radical radiation in this nonrandomized study on patients with NPC.
Keywords
Chemotherapy, nasopharyngeal cancer, radiotherapy
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© Copyright 2009 Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics. Alternative site location: http://www.cancerjournal.net/
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