Retrospective Study of Gemcitabine Based Chemotherapy for Unresectable or Recurrent Esophagus Squamous Cell Carcinoma Refractory to First Line Chemotherapy

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of a combination of gemcitabine with nedaplatin (GN)or cisplatin (GC) for patients with unresectable or recurrent esophagus squamous cell carcinoma.
Methods:Gemcitabine was administered at 1 g/m2 intravenously on days 1 and 8; and nedaplatin or cisplatin wereadministered at 80 mg/m2 intravenously on day 1. We analyzed the response rate, overall survival time,progression-free survival time, and toxicity in 21 patients treated with GN and 27 patients treated with GC.
Results: In patients treated with gemcitabine plus nedaplatin, the ORR was 47.6%, the median progression-freesurvival time was 4.1 months, and the median survival time was 9.3 months. In patients treated with gemcitabineplus cisplatin, the ORR was 48.2%, the median progression-free survival time was 3.9 months, and the mediansurvival time was 9.1 months, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in ORR, PFS andOS between the two groups. In both, the most commonly observed toxicities were thrombocytopenia and fatigue.Nausea and vomiting was more frequent in the GC group than in the GN group.
Conclusion: Gemcitabine basedchemotherapy was effective and tolerable for patients with unresectable or recurrent esophagus squamous cellcarcinoma refractory to first line chemotherapy.