Induction chemotherapy followed by concomitant chemoradiation for cervical esophageal cancer

Long-term results of definitive radiochemotherapy in locally advanced cancers of the cervical esophagus

The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the long-term effectiveness of combined chemoradiation as the definitive treatment of locally advanced cancers of the cervical esophagus. Patients received high-dose external beam radiotherapy and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Some patients received intraluminal brachytherapy as a boost. In addition, a majority of the patients received cisplatin-based induction chemotherapy before definitive chemoradiation. Fifty-five patients (46 men, 9 women, median age 58 years, range 35-72 years) with cancers of the cervical esophagus (stage II: 20; stage III: 35 patients) were treated with definitive chemoradiation (median dose 60 Gy, range 50-70 Gy). Actuarial overall survival rates at 2, 3, 5, and 10 years were 35%, 29%, 25%, and 10%, respectively. Thirteen long-term survivors were observed with a follow-up of more than 5 years. Neither gender nor age, tumor length, tumor grade, or clinically detectable lymph node metastases was significant prognostic factors for survival. Twenty-four patients (44%) developed local or regional recurrences, 15 (27%) distant metastases, and 8 (15%) patients developed a second malignancy. Acute and late toxicity of this treatment schedule was moderate. Concurrent chemoradiation offers a chance of long-term survival for locally advanced unresectable carcinomas of the cervical esophagus, with long-term survival rates above 24% and acceptable toxicity. These results substantiate the use of chemoradiation as a curative treatment option for cervical esophageal cancer.

Chemoradiation and adjuvant chemotherapy in advanced cervical adenocarcinoma

PURPOSE

The optimal treatment of women with advanced adenocarcinoma of uterine cervix is still undefined. We compared concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) and adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy with CCRT alone for advanced cervical adenocarcinoma in a randomized trial at the Hunan Provincial Tumor Hospital in China.

METHODS

From 1998 to 2007, 880 patients with clinical FIGO stages IIB-IVA cervical adenocarcinoma were randomized to receive either CCRT or chemoradiation with one cycle of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy with Paclitaxel (135 mg/m(2))+Cisplatin (75 mg/m(2)) before receiving radiation and two cycles of consolidation chemotherapy with the same drugs after radiotherapy in 3-week intervals. The disease control and survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS

All patients completed the treatment plan. 340 patients have relapsed, with a median follow-up duration of 60 months. Patients who received chemoradiation with adjuvant chemotherapy showed a significantly longer disease-free (P<.05), cumulative survival (P<.05) and long-term local tumor control (P<.05). Patients who received CCRT alone had significantly more distant metastasis and pelvic failure than those who received chemoradiation with adjuvant chemotherapy (P<.05).

CONCLUSION

Incorporating neo-adjuvant and consolidation chemotherapy with Paclitaxel and Cisplatin into concomitant chemoradiation is highly effective, safe and may be a very promising treatment protocol for advanced cervical adenocarcinoma.

Chemoradiation therapy followed by endoscopic submucosal dissection for esophageal cancer

We performed chemoradiation therapy (CRT) followed by an endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for three patients with esophageal cancer. One patient refused surgery, and two patients were complicated with severe cardiopulmonary diseases. In all patients, CRT was effective in reducing tumor size, and the residual tumors were completely resected by ESD. All patients were recurrence-free for 6 months to 2.5 years. The combination of CRT plus subsequent ESD may be useful for treating patients with esophageal cancer who are not fit to undergo surgery.

Esophageal cancer located at the neck and upper thorax treated with concurrent chemoradiation: a single-institution experience

BACKGROUND

To characterize the treatment and outcome of patients with cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer, the authors retrospectively reviewed the 11-year experience from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

METHODS

Thirty-five patients with M0 cervical or upper thoracic esophageal cancer and treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy were analyzed. Median radiation dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 24.5-64.8) Gy delivered with 1.8-Gy daily fractions over 5.5 weeks. Chemotherapy was 5-fluorouracil based. Response after treatment was evaluated on the basis of radiography, biopsy, or both. The survival rates were calculated by means of the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS

The median follow-up for the surviving patients was 39 months. The actuarial 5-year overall survival (OS), cause-specific survival, disease-free survival, local relapse-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival rates were 18.6%, 27.6%, 22.4%, 47.7%, and 57.0%, respectively. Patients who received a radiation dose of greater than or equal to 50 Gy had a higher complete response rate than those who received less than 50 Gy (79.2% versus 27.3%; p = 0.003). On multivariate analysis, radiation dose was the only protective factor associated with the rates of OS (p = 0.006), cause-specific survival (p = 0.003), and local relapse-free survival (p = 0.001); tumor stage was the only factor associated with rate of disease-free survival (p = 0.007).

CONCLUSION

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is an effective treatment modality for patients with cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer. The authors' results suggest that a total radiation dose of 50 to 65 Gy with a concurrent chemotherapy regimen may improve local control and the OS rate in this rare type of esophageal cancer.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy with concurrent chemotherapy for locally advanced cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer

AIM: To evaluate the dosimetry, efficacy and toxicity of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and concurrent chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer.

METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 7 patients who were definitively treated with IMRT and concurrent chemotherapy. Patients who did not receive IMRT radiation and concurrent chemotherapy were not included in this analysis. IMRT plans were evaluated to assess the tumor coverage and normal tissue avoidance. Treatment response was evaluated and toxicities were assessed.

RESULTS: Five- to nine-beam IMRT were used to deliver a total dose of 59.4-66 Gy (median: 64.8 Gy) to the primary tumor with 6-MV photons. The minimum dose received by the planning tumor volume (PTV) of the gross tumor volume boost was 91.2%-98.2% of the prescription dose (standard deviation [SD]: 3.7%-5.7%). The minimum dose received by the PTV of the clinical tumor volume was 93.8%-104.8% (SD: 4.3%-11.1%) of the prescribed dose. With a median follow-up of 15 mo (range: 3-21 mo), all 6 evaluable patients achieved complete response. Of them, 2 developed local recurrences and 2 had distant metastases, 3 survived with no evidence of disease. After treatment, 2 patients developed esophageal stricture requiring frequent dilation and 1 patient developed tracheal-esophageal fistula.

CONCLUSION: Concurrent IMRT and chemotherapy resulted in an excellent early response in patients with locally advanced cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer. However, local and distant recurrence and toxicity remain to be a problem. Innovative approaches are needed to improve the outcome.

Modern management of locally advanced cervical carcinoma

Radiation was until recently the key and only modality for the routine treatment of locally advanced cervical carcinoma. However after years of studying multi-modality treatments as an alternative to radiation alone in randomized phase III trials, the standard treatment has changed to chemo-radiation based on cisplatin. Three recent meta-analyses have confirmed that cisplatin-based chemo-radiation adds an absolute 12% benefit in five-year survival over radiation therapy alone. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiation has not been of proven benefit, but when neoadjuvant chemotherapy is followed by surgery, an absolute increase of 15% in five-year survival over radiation alone is seen. This benefit in survival is comparable to that obtained with the current chemo-radiation schedules based on cisplatin. Despite these encouraging results there remains room for improvement as the five-year survival of patients treated with chemo-radiation ranges from nearly 80% in bulky IB tumours to only 25% in stage IVA disease. Other therapeutic approaches need to be fully evaluated including the use of chemo-radiation after neoadjuvant chemotherapy; the use of new drug combinations and the multi-modality combination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery plus adjuvant chemo-radiation. Likewise, the addition of radiosensitizers to cisplatin, preoperative chemo-radiation and/or adjuvant chemotherapy may eventually improve the currents results of cisplatin-based chemo-radiation. Nevertheless, it is hard to foresee a dramatic increase in cure rate, even with the most optimal combination of cytotoxic drugs, surgery and radiation, and thus the testing of molecular targeted therapies against cervical cancer is a logical step to follow.

Concomitant chemoradiation versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical carcinoma: results from two consecutive phase II studies

BACKGROUND

Randomized studies comparing induction chemotherapy followed by surgical resection with radiation alone found that the neoadjuvant approach produces better results. So far, this latter modality has not been compared with standard concomitant chemoradiation. The objective of this report was to compare the results of two consecutive phase II studies: neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery or chemoradiation for the unresectable cases versus standard cisplatin-based chemoradiation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

From February 1999 to July 1999, 41 patients with cervical carcinoma, stages IB2-IIIB, were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Treatment consisted of three 21-day courses of cisplatin 100 mg/m(2) on day 1 and gemcitabine 1000 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8, followed by either surgery or concomitant chemoradiation for the non-operable cases. From August 1999 to December 1999, an equal number of patients having comparable clinicopathological characteristics were treated with six weekly courses of cisplatin 40 mg/m(2) during standard pelvic radiation.

RESULTS

A total of 82 patients were analyzed. Both groups were similar with regard to age, histology, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, tumor size, pretreatment hemoglobin levels, parametrial infiltration and performance status. In the neoadjuvant arm the overall response rate to induction chemotherapy was 95% (95% confidence interval 88% to 100%). Twenty-three patients had surgery and 14 underwent chemoradiation. In the definitive chemoradiation study, 38 patients completed treatment, the median number of cisplatin courses was six for a dose intensity of 33 mg/m(2)/week. Doses to points A and B were 85 Gy (range 68-95) and 55 Gy (range 51-65), respectively. Chemoradiation was delivered in 44.6 (range 28-113) days. Complete response rates after all treatment were similar: 97% and 87% in the neoadjuvant and chemoradiation groups, respectively. At a median follow-up of 28 (range 2-33) and 24 (range 3-30) months, respectively, there were no differences in overall survival. To date, 15 and 13 patients in the neoadjuvant and chemoradiation groups, respectively, have died of disease (P = 0.8567).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this non-randomized comparison suggest that induction chemotherapy followed by surgery or chemoradiation is at least as effective in terms of response and survival as standard cisplatin-based chemoradiation. A randomized study is needed to confirm these findings.