Improvement in quality of life in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with non-invasive extracorporeal radiofrequency in combination with chemoradiotherapy

Abstract

Purpose: To improve the quality of life (QOL) of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after chemoradiotherapy (CRT), it is necessary to find an effective method to reduce the toxic side-effects of CRT.

Materials and methods: Between June 2007 and June 2010, 83 previously untreated patients with NPC were randomized to receive CRT either with or without non-invasive extracorporeal radiofrequency (ERF). All the patients underwent radiation, and weekly chemotherapy of paclitaxel 135–175 mg/m² and cisplatin 60–90 mg/m². In addition, the patients in the treatment group also underwent non-invasive ERF on a radiofrequency machine at 13.56 MHz for 1 hour at 41–43°C. After the completion of treatment, evaluation was carried out to determine the survival rate, disease-free survival time, and QOL. QOL was analyzed by using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Head and Neck Cancer Module (EORTC QLQ-H&N35) every 6 months during the three-year period.

Results: After completion of the treatments, the 36-month survival rate was 0.730 in the treatment group and 0.535 in the reference group (p = 0.041); the average disease-free survival time was 48 months in the treatment group and only 37.5 months in the reference group (p = 0.048). In the post- treatment questionnaires, several NPC-specific (pain, swallowing, speech, social eating, opening mouth, dry mouth, sticky saliva) QOL domains were better preserved with CRT + ERF compared to CRT at different time-points.

Conclusions: The combination treatment of ERF with CRT can prolong the survival rate and disease-free survival time and improve the QOL for patients with NPC.