Combined Treatment of Patients with Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma with Paclitaxel,Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of paclitaxel combined with capecitabine and oxaliplatin on patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).Method This study was conducted between Jan.2002 and Jan.2005.110 patients with advanced NPC were equally and randomly divided into two groups.In the treatment group,the patients were treated with paclitaxel 135 mg/m2 and oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2 by infusion on d1,and oral capecitabine 1650 mg/m2/d from d1 to d14.The treatment was repeated every three weeks for two to four cycles.In the control group,patients received similar cycle of treatment with DDP20 mg/m2 and 5-Fu 0.5 g/m2 by infusion from d1 to 5.The efficacy was evaluated at two to four weeks after the completion of chemotherapy.Result 55 subjects in the treatment group and 53 subjected in the control group were assessed after chemotherapy.The success rate of treatment(CR + PR) in the treatment group(50.9%,28 cases) was significantly higher than the control group(32.1%,17 cases,P0.05).The median survival time of the treatment group(10.6 months) was also significantly higher than the control group(8.6 months,t0.05).Grade Ⅳ toxicity symptoms,such as hand-foot syndrome(8 cases,14.5%),myelosuppression(2 cases,3.6%) and GI discomfortable(4 cases,7.3%) were observed in the treatment group.In the control group,Grade Ⅳ toxicity is GI discomfortable(8 cases,15.1%) and myelosuppression(2 cases,3.8%).Conclusion Paclitaxel combined with Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin is suitable for patients with advanced NPC and the toxicity is tolerable.