Long-term efficacy analysis of radiotherapy and local management of metastases in patients with newly diagnosed oligometastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A prospective, single-arm, single-center clinical study

Abstract

Purpose

We conducted a single-center, single-arm study (NCT 03129412) to prospectively analyze the long-term outcomes of newly diagnosed patients with oligometastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who received radical radiotherapy and local treatment of metastases.

Patients and methods

Patients who reached disease controll after platinum-based palliative chemotherapy continued to receive radical radiotherapy for the nasopharyngeal region and neck. Appropriate local treatments were selected to treat the metastatic lesions. The primary endpoint of this study was overall survival (OS) and the secondary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS).

Results

Fifty-one patients were included in the final analysis. During a median follow-up of 60 months, the median OS and PFS were 53.87 and 24.23 months, respectively. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year PFS and OS rates were 76.5 %, 38.1 %, and 31.8 % and 98 %, 75.4 %, 45.6 %, respectively. Both single and multivariate analysis indicated that maintenance therapy after radiotherapy could significantly increase PFS (36.43 vs. 16.1 months, P = 0.005). The OS of patients with single organ metastasis was significantly better than that of patients with double organ metastasis (P = 0.001). In addition, the number of metastatic organs also significantly affected PFS in the multifactor analysis.

Conclusion

Patients with newly diagnosed oligometastatic NPC can achieve long-term survival after receiving radical radiotherapy to the primary site and local treatment for metastases.