Increased treatment-related mortality with additional cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with standard radiotherapy

Background and purposes: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the overall risk of treatment-related death associated with additional cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with standard radiotherapy. Material and methods: Eligible studies included RCTs in which cisplatin-based chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy was compared with radiotherapy alone. Statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the summary incidence rates, relative risks (RRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using fixedor random-effects models based on the heterogeneity of included studies. Results: A total of 2829 patients from 13 RCTs were included in this study. The overall incidence for treatment-related death in chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy treated patients was 1.7% and 0.8%. Compared to radiotherapy alone, radiotherapy plus cisplatin-based chemotherapy significantly increased the risk of treatment-related mortality. On subgroup analyses, no difference was found in treatmentrelated mortality between different timings of chemotherapy and chemotherapeutic agents. Adding cisplatin-based chemotherapy was associated with higher incidences of severe acute toxicity. Conclusions: Cisplatin-based chemotherapy plus radiotherapy increased the risk of treatment-related death and severe acute toxicity, compared with radiotherapy alone. Better management of treatment toxicity might improve the therapeutic gain in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Crown Copyright (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Radiotherapy and Oncology 104 (2012) 279-285