Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Nov 15, 2021; 13(11): 1781-1790
Published online Nov 15, 2021. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v13.i11.1781
Induction chemotherapy with albumin-bound paclitaxel plus lobaplatin followed by concurrent radiochemotherapy for locally advanced esophageal cancer
Mao-Hui Yan, Fang Liu, Bao-Lin Qu, Bo-Ning Cai, Wei Yu, Xiang-Kun Dai
Mao-Hui Yan, Fang Liu, Bao-Lin Qu, Bo-Ning Cai, Wei Yu, Xiang-Kun Dai, Department of Radiotherapy, The First Medical Center of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Author contributions: Yan MH, Liu F, Qu BL, Cai BL, Yu W, and Dai XK contributed equally to this work; Yan MH and Liu F designed the research study; Yan MH, Liu F, Qu BL, Cai BL, Yu W, and Dai XK performed the research; Yan MH, Cai BL, and Yu W contributed analytic tools; Yan MH, Liu F, Qu BL, Cai BL, Yu W, and Dai XK analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the First Medical Center of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Hospital Institutional Review Board (Approval No. S2016-099-02).
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. The registration identification number is ChiCTR1900025080.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at email address. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fang Liu, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Radiotherapy, the First Medical Center of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. liufangfsq@163.com
Received: June 15, 2021
Peer-review started: June 15, 2021
First decision: July 16, 2021
Revised: July 18, 2021
Accepted: August 23, 2021
Article in press: August 23, 2021
Published online: November 15, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

The most common type of esophageal cancer in China is esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which accounts for 89% of all esophageal cancer cases. The 5-year survival rate of Chinese ESCC patients is 20%-30% overall. The preferred treatment modality for esophageal cancer is surgery, but 80% of patients are no longer eligible for radical surgery upon diagnosis.

Research motivation

We conducted the present prospective study to investigate the efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy with albumin-bound paclitaxel (ABP) plus lobaplatin (LBP) followed by concurrent radiochemotherapy (RCT) in the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer.

Research objectives

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of induction chemotherapy with ABP plus LBP followed by concurrent RCT for locally advanced esophageal cancer.

Research methods

Patients with pathologically confirmed advanced ESCC were enrolled in this study. All patients were treated with two cycles of induction chemotherapy with ABP plus LBP followed by concurrent RCT. A total of four cycles were scheduled.

Research results

Cox multivariate analysis revealed that two cycles of induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent RCT significantly reduced the risk of progressive disease compared with two cycles of chemotherapy alone. Non-hematologic toxicities were tolerable, and the only grade 3 non-hematologic toxicity was radiation-induced esophagitis. The main hematologic toxicity was neutropenia, and no grade 4 adverse event occurred.

Research conclusions

Induction chemotherapy with ABP plus LBP followed by concurrent RCT is effective in patients with locally advanced ESCC, with mild adverse effects. Thus, this protocol is worthy of clinical promotion and application.

Research perspectives

As an interim report, this study was limited by its short follow-up intervals, and patients’ survival and tumor recurrence/metastasis need to be further investigated.