Cisplatin, tegafur-uracil and leucovorin plus mitomycin C: an acceptably effective and toxic regimen for patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Background: This prospective phase II clinical trial evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of cisplatin, oral tegafur-uracil, leucovorin, and mitomycin C in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: Patients with histologically proven non-keratinizing or undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma were prospectively enrolled from April 2002 to June 2005. Cisplatin 50 mg/m 2 on day 1, 22 and mitomycin C 6 mg/m 2 on day 1 were administered. Oral tegafur-uracil 300 mg/m 2 /day and oral leucovorin 60 mg/day were given on day 1-14 and day 22-35, respectively. Each cycle was repeated every 6 weeks. Primary and secondary endpoints are response rate and toxic profiles with survivals, respectively. Results: Twenty-two patients with the median age of 47 (35-69) years were enrolled in the study. Sixteen (72.7%) patients had undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The regimen was well-tolerated by all patients with the exception of one patient (4.6%) who experienced grade IV anorexia, and two patients (9.1%) who had grade IV vomiting. There was no treatment-related death. The overall response rate was 59.1%, including 3 (13.6%) complete remissions. The median duration of response was 15.9 months, the median time to tumor progression was 10.0 months, and the median overall survival was 16.0 months. Conclusion: This outpatient chemotherapy regimen is acceptably effective and toxic among patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Keywords

• Cisplatin
• head and neck neoplasms
• leucovorin
• mitomycin C
• nasopharyngeal cancer
• tegafur-uracil