Induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone for treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: A meta-analysis of randomized trials / 中国耳鼻咽喉头颈外科

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To systematically review the efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy before concurrent chemoradiotherapy.METHODS We comprehensively searched the CBM,Pubmed,Embase,and the Cochrane databases to identify published studies.Quality assessment of RCTs was conducted according to the methods of Cochrane collaboration.A meta-analysis was performed by using the Revman 5.3 software and Stata12.0software.Primary outcomes included overall survival (OS),progression-free survival (PFS) and overall response rate (ORR).Serious adverse events include neutropenia,anemia,skin reactions,vomiting,etc.RESULTS A Total 6 randomized controlled trials involving 1141 patients were included.There was no significant difference in 1-year survival rate,2-year survival rate,3-year survival rate,5-year survival rate between the two groups(P＞0.05).The 1-year PFS,2-year PFS,3-year PFS,5-year PFS,ORR also showed no difference between the 2 cohorts(P＞0.05).However,the incidence of grade 3 to 4 febrile neutropenia and oral mucositis was higher in the group of induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (OR=6.99,95％CI2.43～20.12;OR=1.92,95％CI1.43～2.58).CONCLUSION Additional induction chemotherapy before concurrent chemoradiotherapy does not improve OS and PFS in locally advanced HNSCC compared to concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone,and can cause a higher incidence of adverse events.