OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine combined with ifosfamide (GI regimen)in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy.

METHODSThe clinical data of 27 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients, who received GI regimen between April 2005 and March 2014 after failure of prior platinum-based chemotherapy, were retrospectively reviewed,and relevant prognostic factors were explored.

RESULTSAll patients were evaluable for efficacy and toxicity. No patient achieved complete response (CR). Partial response (PR) was achieved in ten patients, stable disease (SD) in thirteen patients, progressive disease (PD) in four patients, with a response rate of 37.0% and an overall disease control rate (PR+SD) of 85.2%. For ten PR patients, the median duration of response was 5.5 months. The median progression-free survival of the whole group was 6.7 months, and the Kaplan-Meier estimate of median overall survival was 17.4 months. The 1-year survival rate was 72.6%. Toxicity was mainly hematological: Grade III or IV anemia, neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were found in 3.7%, 37.0% and 18.5% of all patients, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that dose intensity of gemcitabine was a significant prognostic factor for PFS, whereas salvage treatment after failure of GI regimen was a significant prognostic factor for OS.

CONCLUSIONSGemcitabine and ifosfamide combination is effective and well tolerated by patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma pretreated with platinum-based chemotherapy. Further clinical study is warranted.