Concurrent chemoradiation therapy with low-dose CDDP and UFT for glottic carcinomas: Evaluation using the sixth edition of the UICC TNM staging system

We evaluated whether low-dose chemotherapy could improve effects of radiation therapy for glottic carcinoma with different prognostic factor based on the UICC 6th edition. Fifty-one patients with T2N0 glottic carcinoma classified by the UICC 5th edition underwent chemoradiation therapy with low-dose CDDP (4 mg/m2) and oral UFT (450 mg of tegafur) continuing for four weeks (CRT group). The historical control consisted of 49 patients treated with radiation therapy alone (RT group). Forty-six tumors with the adjacent sign, i.e. tumors located adjacent to the thyroid cartilage on radiological examinations, were classified as T3 according to the 6th edition. The 5-year local control and laryngeal preservation rates of the T2 (n = 54) vs. T3 (n = 46) lesions were 87% vs. 50% (p < 0.0001) and 94% vs. 61% (p < 0.0001), respectively. Among the T3 lesions, CRT (n = 24) yielded significantly higher laryngeal preservation rates than did RT alone (n = 22) (83% vs. 40%, p = 0.0063), and the local control rates were higher in the CRT- than the RT group (62% vs. 36%, p = 0.0882). While such benefits of CRT were not observed in patients with T2 lesions.