OBJECTIVETo evaluate the radiosensitivity and toxicity of sodium glycididazole and cisplatin in concurrent chemoradiotherapy for local advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHODSSixty patients with local advanced NPC (T3-4N2-3M0) were randomly divided into chemoradiotherapy group (n=30) and chemoradiotherapy plus sodium glycididazole group (n=30). All the patients received radiotherapy with (60)Co or 6-8 MV linear accelerator and concurrent injection of cisplatin at a weekly dose of 20 mg/m square. In sodium glycididazole group, the patients received injections of sodium glycididazole at 800 mg/m square prior to the radiotherapy 3 times a week.

RESULTSAt the end of the therapy and 3 month after the radiotherapy, a response rate of 100% was achieved in both of the groups. But at the end of the therapy, the chemoradiotherapy plus sodium glycididazole group showed a significantly higher rate of complete tumor remission than the chemoradiotherapy group (93.3% vs 73.33%, chi(2)=4.32, P=0.038). The patients in the two groups showed similar tolerance of the therapy during the observation.

CONCLUSIONSodium glycididazole plus cisplatin can accelerate the tumor remission and improve the complete remission rate in patients with local advanced NPC without causing severe toxicity.