A retrospective study of treatment for curative synchronous double primary cancers of the head and neck and the esophagus

Abstract Objective Curative synchronous double primary cancers of the head and neck and the esophagus (CSC-HE) are frequently detected, but a standard treatment remains to be established. We studied the clinical course to explore appropriate treatment strategies. Methods We retrospectively studied consecutive 33 patients who had CSC-HE. The disease stage was classified into 4 groups: group A, early head and neck cancer (HNC) and early esophageal cancer (EC); group B, early HNC and advanced EC; group C, advanced HNC and early EC; and group D, advanced HNC and advanced EC. As induction chemotherapy, the patients received 3 courses of TPF therapy (docetaxel 75 mg/m 2 on day 1, cisplatin 75 mg/m 2 on day 1, and 5-fluorouracil 750 mg/m 2 on days 1–5) at 3-week intervals. The clinical courses and treatment outcomes were studied according to the disease stage of CSC-HE. Results The disease stage of CSC-HE was group A in 1 patient (3%), group B in 9 patients (27.3%), group C in 3 patients (9.1%), and group D in 20 patients (60.6%). The median follow-up was 26 months, and the 2-year overall survival rate was 67.4%. In groups A, B, and C, the 2-year overall survival rate was 83.3%. In group D, the 2-year overall survival rate was 62.6%. Ten of 20 patients in group D received induction chemotherapy with TPF, and 6 patients were alive and disease free at the time of this writing. Conclusion The treatment outcomes of patients with CSC-HE were relatively good. TPF induction chemotherapy might be an effective treatment for patients with advanced HNC and advanced EC.