Pediatric and Young Adult Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients Treated With Preradiation Cisplatin and Docetaxel Chemotherapy

Purpose: To evaluate treatment results for pediatric and young adult (aged <21 years) patients with nonmetastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant cisplatin + docetaxel and radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Ten patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who received diagnoses between 2004 and 2007 were treated with four cycles of cisplatin 100 mg/m2 + docetaxel 75 mg/m2 on Day 1 with premedication every 3 weeks. All patients were treated with fractionated external beam radiotherapy after chemotherapy to a median dose of 59.4 Gy (range, 54-59.4 Gy) to the primary disease and 40 Gy to the supraclavicular field with the clavicles shielded. Five children were monitored with serum EBV DNA quantification at diagnosis, after each cycle of chemotherapy, before radiotherapy, and at follow-up. Results: The median age of the patients was 14 years (range, 9-20 years), with a male:female ratio of 6:4. Stage distribution was as follows: 2 patients had Stage IIb disease, 2 had Stage III, 4 had Stage IVa, and 2 had Stage IVb disease. After cisplatin+docetaxel chemotherapy 1 patient had a complete response, 5 had a partial response, 3 had stable disease, and 1 had disease progression. The 2-year overall survival rate in our series was 90% and the event-free survival rate was 70%. No major chemotherapy toxicity was observed. The EBV DNA titers were higher in 2 of the 5 monitored patients at the time of diagnosis. Conclusion: As neoadjuvant chemotherapy before radiotherapy, the cisplatin+docetaxel combination is safe for use in the treatment of childhood nasopharyngeal carcinoma. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.