IMRT plus nimotuzumab for patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

What is it about?

In this work, we retrospectively evaluated the clinical outcomes of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plus nimotuzumab with or without concurrent chemotherapy (CCT) for patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC). Our preliminary results showed that the regime of IMRT plus nimotuzumab for the treatment of LA-NPC was well-tolerated, with encouraging survival data, and it could be an effective treatment alternative for patients with LA-NPC. Both univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that cycles of nimotuzumab were significantly associated with PFS. Patients who received ≥6 cycles of nimotuzumab showed a better PFS than those receiving ＜6 cycles (P = 0.006). Besides, favorable normal tissue toxicity results were observed in our cohort comparing with historical data of cetuximab-based studies. Subgroup analysis of treatment toxicities revealed that the patients who received CCT had more grade 3-4 adverse events as compared to those who did not receive CCT (62.1% vs 33.3%, P = 0.045).

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Why is it important?

Both univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that cycles of nimotuzumab were significantly associated with PFS. Patients who received ≥6 cycles of nimotuzumab showed a better PFS than those receiving ＜6 cycles (P = 0.006).

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