Gemcitabine Versus Docetaxel Plus Cisplatin as Induction Chemotherapy in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objectives To compare tumor volume reduction after induction chemotherapy (IC) with gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP) and docetaxel plus cisplatin (DP) and to evaluate the influence on subsequent radiotherapy in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Study Design Retrospective clinical study. Methods Patients who received GP or DP IC followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) were retrospectively enrolled. Propensity score matching (PSM) was adopted to control the balance between the GP and DP groups. Results A total of 41 patients treated with GP and 53 patients treated with DP were enrolled. After matching, 33 sub‐pairs of 66 patients were generated in the post‐PSM cohort. As compared with DP, GP was superior in its gross tumor volume of the nasopharynx (GTVnx) reduction (28.88% vs. 18.73%; P = .014) but equivalent in its gross tumor volume of the lymph nodes (GTVnd) reduction (37.58% vs. 29.79%; P = .229). Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed that the chemotherapy regimen was an independent factor associated with the reduction in GTVnx ( P = .011). The GP group exhibited advantages in the dosimetric parameters of the planning target volume of high‐risk volume and low‐risk volume (PTV1 and PTV2), lenses, temporal lobes, and parotid glands. Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed that chemotherapy regimen was an independent factor associated with the dosimetric parameters of PTV1, PTV2, lenses, temporal lobes, and parotid glands. Conclusion GP regimen achieves a greater GTVnx reduction than DP regimen and has an advantage in the dosimetry of subsequent CCRT. Level of Evidence 3 Laryngoscope , 132:2379–2387, 2022