A novel chemo-radiotherapy with low-dose daily cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and doxorubicin for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: a preliminary report.

OBJECTIVE Although anaplastic thyroid carcinoma has a dismal prognosis, some patients show favorable survival following multimodal treatment with surgery, external irradiation and chemotherapy. However, no regimen has yet been established. We reviewed outcomes for patients who underwent a unique chemoradiotherapy regimen between 1998 and 2007. METHODS The regimen consists of external irradiation (40 Gy at 2 Gy/day) combined with concurrent low-dose cisplatin at 5 mg/m(2) on Days 1-5, 8-12, 15-19 and 22-26, 5-fluorouracil at 200 mg/m(2) on Days 1-26 and doxorubicin at 20 mg/m(2) on Days 1 and 15. This regimen was performed on 21 patients (13 men, 8 women) with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Median age at the time of treatment was 66 years (range, 54-81 years). RESULTS The treatment regimen was completed in 19 patients (90%) and was interrupted in 2 (10%) due to progressive distant metastases. After excluding 10 patients who underwent complete resection before chemoradiotherapy, 1 patient (11%) showed partial response, 7 (78%) showed stable disease and 1 (11%) had progressive disease on the basis of Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Overall, 6-month survival rate for patients treated with chemoradiotherapy was 57%. With this novel chemoradiotherapy, death from loco-regional disease was seen in only two patients (11%). Grade 3-4 toxicities were observed in 12 patients (63%), but no treatment-related deaths were encountered. CONCLUSIONS Our new chemoradiotherapy is effective for loco-regional control of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, particularly when combined with radical surgery. This regimen could not prevent distant metastases, but offers acceptable toxicity while maintaining patient quality of life.