The long-term survival of patients with III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with IMRT with or without Nimotuzumab: a propensity score-matched analysis

Background To assess the efficacy of Nimotuzumab in combination with first-line chemoradiotherapy treatment in Chinese patients with primary III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Patients with primary locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy between January 2008 and December 2013 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Group A received at least 6 doses of Nimotuzumab, while Group B did not receive Nimotuzumab. A propensity score matching method was used to match patients from each group in a 1:3 ratio. Results In total, 730 eligible patients were propensity matched, with 184 patients in Group A and 546 patients in Group B. Significant differences were not observed in the patient and tumor characteristics between Group A and Group B. At a median follow-up of 74.78 months (range 3.53-117.83 months), locoregional recurrence, distant failure and death were observed in 10.68, 11.10 and 16.03% of all patients, respectively. The estimated 5-year locoregional relapse-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, progression-free survival and overall survival in the Group A versus Group B were 85.34% versus 89.79% (P = 0.156), 93.09% versus 85.61% (P = 0.012), 79.96% versus 77.99% (P = 0.117) and 88.91% versus 78.30% (P = 0.006), respectively. Conclusions This nimotuzumab-containing regimen resulted in improved long-term survival of III-IVb stage NPC patients and warrants further prospective evaluation.