Clinical efficacy and safety of re-radiotherapy combined with tegafur gimeracil oteracil potassium capsule in treatment of local recurrent esophageal carcinoma

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of re-radiotherapy combined with TS-1 (tegafur gimeracil oteracil potassium capsule) in treatment of local recurrent esophageal carcinoma. Methods A total of 63 esophageal carcinoma patients who recurred after the first course radiation treatment admitted to Jiangdu People′s Hospital of Yangzhou during January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015 were retrospec-tively analyzed. Twenty-seven of them treated with re-radiotherapy combined with TS-1 were deemed as the research group and 36 of them treated with radiotherapy alone were deemed as the control group based on diffe-rent treatment. Then the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of the two groups were compared. Results The objective response rates were 77.8% (21/27) and 50.0% (18/36) respectively in the research group and control group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=5.048, P=0.025). The median survival time in the two groups were 21.6 months and 13.7 months, the 1-year (74.1%) and 2-year (44.4%) survival rates of the research group were both higher than those of the control group (52.8% and 30.6%, respectively), and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=6.086, P=0.013). The major adverse effects of the research group and control group during the treatment were radiation oesophagitis (92.6% vs. 80.5%), radiation pneumonia (18.5% vs. 19.4%), myelosuppression (96.3% vs. 77.8%) and gastrointestinal reactions (25.9% vs. 19.4%). Most of them were 1-2 grade, and there were no statistically significant differences (χ2=0.975, P=0.323; χ2=0.009, P=0.926; χ2=2.941, P=0.086; χ2=0.375, P=0.540). Conclusion The treatment of re-radiotherapy combined with TS-1 for local recurrent esophageal carcinoma can improve the efficacy and prolong survival period, and the adverse reactions are tolerable. Key words: Esophageal neoplasms; Radiotherapy, intensity-modulated; Recurrence; Tegafur gimeracil oteracil potassium capsule