ABSTRACT
Objective:To compare the therapeutic and adverse effects of concurrent raltitrexed plus oxaliplatin and radiotherapy with those of PF synchronous radiotherapy in the treatment of advanced esophageal cancer. Methods:A total of 84 pathologically con-firmed patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma were randomly distributed to the concurrent raltitrexed plus oxaliplatin and ra-diotherapy group (experimental group, n=40) and to the PF synchronous radiotherapy group (control group, n=44). All patients were treated with 3DCRT at a total dose of 60 Gy/30f. The chemotherapy in the experimental group consists of raltitrexed at 2.5 mg/m2, d1, plus oxaliplatin at 130 mg/m2, d2. The chemotherapy of the control group consists of DDP at 25 mg/m2, Dd1-3, plus 5-FU 500 mg/m2, d1-5. Two cycles of concurrent chemotherapy were administered during radiotherapy on d1 and d29. The comparison results were used to estimate the therapeutic and adverse effects of the two groups. Results:The rerponse rate, complete response, and one-year overall survival rate of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group [(87.50%vs. 79.54%, P=0.3293), (32.50%vs. 18.18%, P=0.13), and (82.50%vs. 79.50%, P=0.701)], but the difference was not statistically significant. The incidence rates of nau-sea and vomiting, appetite degression, leucopenia, radiation-induced esophagitis, and cardiotoxicity were significantly lower (P0.05). Conclusion:Simi-lar to PF chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the concurrent raltitrexed plus oxaliplatin and radiotherapy achieved a similar short-term therapeutic effect but lower adverse effects on patients with esophageal cancer.