Zoledronic acid combined with chemotherapy bring survival benefits to patients with bone metastases from nasopharyngeal carcinoma

• Published in: Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology 2011-10, Vol.137 (10), p.1545-1551
• Main Authors: Jin, Ying, An, Xin, Cai, Yu Chen, Cao, Ye, Cai, Xiu Yu, Xia, Qing, Tan, Yu Ting, Jiang, Wen Qi, Shi, Yan Xia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Alkaline phosphatase; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bone Density Conservation Agents - administration & dosage; Bone Neoplasms - drug therapy; Bone Neoplasms - mortality; Bone Neoplasms - secondary; Bones; Cancer Research; Chemotherapy; Diphosphonates - administration & dosage; Diphosphonates - adverse effects; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Drug therapy; Female; Head & neck cancer; Hematology; Humans; Imidazoles - administration & dosage; Imidazoles - adverse effects; Internal Medicine; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metastases; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - pathology; Oncology; Original Paper; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Survival; Tumors; Tumors of striated muscle and skeleton; Upper respiratory tract, upper alimentary tract, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands: diseases, semeiology; Zoledronic acid
• ISSN: 0171-5216; 1432-1335
• DOI: 10.1007/s00432-011-1027-8

Purpose Bone is the most common site of metastases from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Zoledronic acid (ZA) used to prevent skeletal-related events (SREs) of bone metastases has shown anti-tumor effects; yet, no report has been found on the survival benefit of ZA in NPC. This study aimed to evaluate whether ZA can bring survival benefits to patients with bone metastases from NPC. Methods A total of 307 patients with of NPC who had bone metastases were analyzed retrospectively. The differences of survival between patients treated with chemotherapy combined with ZA and those with chemotherapy alone were evaluated by the log-rank test. The Cox multivariate analyses of clinical features and different treatment methods of the 307 patients were conducted. Results The prevalence of SREs in the combined approach group was lower than that with chemotherapy alone (34% vs. 48%, X 2  = 7.003, P  = 0.008). The combined approach group had better progression-free survival (PFS) (11.5 vs. 5.5 months, P