Phase II trial of docetaxel combined with nedaplatin for patients with recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: This Phase II trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of docetaxel combined with nedaplatin as first-line treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: In this multicenter Phase II trial, the patients were treated with intravenous docetaxel (75 mg/m(2), day 1) and nedaplatin (80 mg/m2, day 1), each cycle repeated every 3 weeks for two cycles at least. Results: From January 2010 to November 2013, a total of 78 patients were recruited in this trial. Among them, 73 patients were assessable for response. The treatment was well tolerated. The main hematological adverse event was neutropenia. A total of 12 patients (15.4%) had grade 3 or grade 4 neutropenia. Grade 3 anemia was observed in six patients (7.7%) and no grade 3/4-thrombocytopenia was observed. No Grade 3/4 non-hematological toxicity was observed. There were five complete response (6.8%), 43 partial responses (58.9%), and the overall response rate was 65.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 48.7%-81.2%). With a median follow-up period of 18.6 months, the median time to progression was 7.9 months (95% CI, 4.2-10.8 months), median overall survival was 15.7 months (95% CI, 11.6-18.5 months). Conclusion: Docetaxel combined with nedaplatin offers a satisfactory clinical activity and an acceptable safety profile as first-line chemotherapy for patients with recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.