ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the treatment effects of chrono-chemotherapy (CC) with radiotherapy on advanced esophageal carcinoma. Methods Eighty patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma were randomly divided into two groups: a radiotherapy group (R) and a chrono-chemotherapy plus radiotherapy group (CC+R). 40 patients received radical radiotherapy alone and the radiation dose was 64-70 Gy for 6-7 weeks (R). 40 patients were treated by chrono--chemotherapy plus radiotherapy. Patients were chrono-introvein infusion with cisplatin and 5-fluorouraeil. Patients were given cisplatin 20 mg/m2 infusion on 10-hour-22-hour and 5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m2 by infusion from 22:00 to 10:00 next day. The period of treatment was 5 days. Treatment was repeated on the 29th day. The radiation dose was 50-60 Gy, for 5-6 weeks (CC+R). The treatment effects and X images of all patients were observed and followed up for 6 to 20 months. Results The improvements of clinical symptoms were 92.5% (37/40) in CC+R group and 75.0% (30/40) in R group, with an obvious difference between the two groups (P <0.05). The 1-, 2-year survival rates were 75.0% (30/40) and 52.5% (21/40), 47.5% (19/40) and 30.0% (12/40) in two groups, with significant difference in 1-year survival rate between the two groups (P <0.05). Conclusion Radiotherapy combined with chrono-chemotherapy was an effective method for advanced esophageal carcinoma.