With or without reirradiation in advanced local recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a case–control study

Background The study aimed to evaluate the long-term outcome in patients with advanced local recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with or without reirradiation. Methods A total of 44 patients treated without reirradiation (non-RT + chemotherapy) were matched with 44 patients treated with reirradiation (re-RT+/-chemtherapy) by age, sex, Karnosky performance score (KPS), rT stage, rN stage, and time interval between initial radiation and recurrence (TI). Overall survival (OS) rate and time to progression (TTP) rate were assessed using Kaplan–Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox regression analysis. Results From March 2008 to December 2013, a total of 88 well-balanced rT3–4 N0-1 NPC patients were retrospectively analyzed. After a median follow-up of 27 months (range: 6–85), the 5-year OS rate and TTP rate was 23.4 %, 39.0 % in the non-RT + chemotherapy group and 27.5 %, 49.8 % in the re-RT+/-chemtherapy group, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that significant toxic effect was the only significant prognosticator correlated with OS (HR: 2.15, 95 % CI = 1.02–4.53, p = 0.044). No statistically significant survival differences were observed between the two treatment groups in either univariate or multivariate analyses. Conclusion Compared with reiradiation, treating advanced local recurrent NPC with chemotherapy alone warrants further validation in the view of its similar survival and more acceptable toxicities.