• Mengmeng Wang, Huimin Tian, Gang Li, Tingwen Ge, Yudi Liu, Jiuwei Cui, and Fujun Han.
• Cancer Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
• Oncotarget. 2016 Jul 26; 7 (30): 48375-48390.

PurposeWe did a meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) versus CCRT with or without adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) for patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma based on randomized controlled trials.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and meeting proceedings of major relevant conferences to identify published and unpublished randomized controlled trials. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint.ResultsThis meta-analysis included 9 randomized clinical trials with 2215 patients. NACT followed by CCRT significantly improved PFS (HR=0.68, 95% CI 0.56 - 0.81, P < 0.001) compared versus CCRT with or without AC, and no heterogeneity was observed (I2 = 0.0%, P = 0.975). NACT was associated with a significant improvement in overall survival (HR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.49 - 0.84, P = 0.001; I2 = 0.0%, P = 0.467) and distant failure-free survival (HR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.53 - 0.97, P = 0.031; I2 = 0.0%, P = 0.744). No significant benefit was shown by NACT for locoregional control. NACT with CCRT increased risks of grade 3 - 4 anemia, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and fatigue, compared versus CCRT with or without AC.ConclusionsOur meta-analysis confirmed that the addition of NACT to CCRT significantly improved PFS and OS versus CCRT with or without AC for locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. These results may alter the standard of care - CCRT with or without AC, for locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

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