Combined treatment of oxaliplatin and capecitabine in patients with metastatic esophageal squamous cell cancer

AIM： To investigate the efficacy and side effects of the combined therapy of oxaliplatin and capecitabine in patients with metastatic esophageal squamous cell cancer （ESCC） and the survival of the patients. METHODS： Sixty-four patients （median age of 63 years） with histological or cytological confirmation of ESCC received oxaliplatin 120 mg/m^2 intravenously on day 1 and capecitabine 1000 mg/m^2 orally twice daily on days 1 to 14 in a 21-d treatment cycle as palliative chemotherapy. Each patient received at least two cycles of treatment. The efficacy, side effects and patient survival were evaluated. RESULTS： The partial response （PR） rate was 43.8% （28/64）. Stable disease （SD） rate was 47.9% （26/64）, and disease progression rate was 15.6% （10/64）. The clinical benefit rate （PR ＋ SD） was 84.4%. The main toxicities were leukopenia （50.0%）, nausea and vomiting （51.6%）, diarrhea （50.0%）, stomatitis （39.1%）, polyneuropathy （37.5%） and hand-foot syndrome （37.5%）. No grade 4 event in the entire cohort was found. The median progression-free survival was 4 mo, median overall survival was 10 mo （95% CI： 8.3-11.7 mo）, and the 1- and 2-year survival rates were 38.1% and 8.2%, respectively. High Karnofsky index, single metastatic lesion and response to the regimen indicated respectively good prognosis. CONCLUSION： Oxaliplatin plus capecitabine regimen is effective and tolerable in metastatic ESCC patients. The regimen has improved the survival moderately and merits further studies.