Increasing neoadjuvant chemotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has radiosensitive and chemosensitive properties. The lack of radiotherapy devices makes concurrent chemoradiation difficult in Indonesia. Thus, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the most commonly given treatment option as initial management in patients with NPC. This study determined the profile of patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This study was conducted retrospectively using secondary data derived from medical records of NPC patients treated at the Inpatient Ward, Dr. Soetomo General Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia, from January to December 2018. Among 166 NPC patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy, there were 76.51% male and 23.49% female, and mostly were in the age group of 41-50 years. The majority of patients were with stage IVA NPC and type III histopathology. Most patients underwent 6 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Cisplatin-Paclitaxel was the most widely used regimen, and 28.31% patients experienced regimen changes during chemotherapy cycle. The lack of radiotherapy devices causes concurrent chemoradiation which cannot be given widely to NPC patients and increases the number of neoadjuvant chemotherapy cycles, while waiting for the radiotherapy schedule.