Purpose: To evaluate the treatment outcome of salvage concurrent radio-chemotherapy for patients with loco-recurrent esophageal cancer after surgery. Methods: 50 patients with loco-recurrent squamous-cell cancer after curative esophagectomy were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were treated with radiotherapy (median 60 Gy) combined with chemotherapy consisting of either 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) plus cisplatin (DDP) (R-FP group) or paclitaxel plus DDP (R-TP group). Results: The median follow-up period was 16.0 months. The 1-year and 3-year survival rates were 56% and 14%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) time was 9.8 and 13.3 months respectively. There was no statistical significance of the PFS of the two groups. The OS (median 16.3 months) in the R-TP group was superior to that in the R-FP group (median: 9.8 months) (p = 0.012). Among the patients who had received ≥60 Gy irradiation dose, the median PFS (10.6 months) and OS (16.3 months) were significantly superior to the PFS (8.7 months) and OS (11.3 months) among those patients did not (all p < 0.05). Grade 3 treatment-related gastritis were observed in 6 (27.3%) and 7 (25%) patients in the R-FP and R-TP group respectively. By univariate survival analysis, the age (<60 years), TP regimen and higher irradiation dose might improve the OS of such patients in present study. Conclusions: For those patients with post-operative loco-recurrent squamous-cell esophageal carcinoma, radiotherapy combined with either FP or TP regimen chemotherapy was an effective salvage treatment. Younger age, treatment with the TP regimen and an irradiation dose ≥60 Gy might improve the patients’ treatment outcome.

Purpose: Low-dose radiotherapy (LDRT) may enhance the synergistic antitumor effect of combined immunotherapy and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The safety and efficacy of this novel triple-combination therapy were evaluated for the first time as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients and Methods: This prospective phase I study enrolled 29 patients and included a dose-escalation and dose-expansion phase. Patients received SBRT [30 Gray (Gy)/3f] to small lesions and LDRT (2 Gy/1f, 4 Gy/2f, or 10 Gy/5f) to a large lesion concurrently, followed by sintilimab (a programmed death-1 inhibitor). The primary endpoint was safety and tolerability; secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Results: No dose-limiting toxicities were observed during the dose-escalation phase; 4 Gy/2f was the recommended LDRT dose. Median follow-up was 15.6 months. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAE) occurred in 96.6% (28/29) of patients [grade ≥ 3; 20.7% (6/29)]; 2 patients (6.9%) discontinued due to TRAEs. Seven patients experienced pneumonitis (grade 2, n = 6; grade 3, n = 1). Immune-related adverse events were noted in 58.6% (17/29) of patients. In patients with tumor assessment (n = 28), ORR and confirmed ORR were 60.7% and 57.1%, respectively. Median PFS was 8.6 months (95% confidence interval, 3.7–16.5), and median OS was not reached. Exploratory analyses suggested both expanded and newly emerging T-cell receptor clonotypes were associated with better PFS. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the novel SBRT + LDRT + sintilimab therapy is safe and promising in patients with programmed death ligand-1–positive, driver gene–negative primary metastatic NSCLC.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent paclitaxel plus cisplatin (TP regimen) for upper esophageal carcinoma. 36 patients of upper esophageal carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were treated with IMRT (median 60 Gy) combined with concurrent TP regimen chemotherapy. The Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed in statistical analysis. Toxicities were recorded according to the NCI CTC version 3.0. 36 patients aged 43–73 years (median 57 years). The median follow-up period was 14.0 months. The 1-year and 2-year survival rates were 83.3% and 42.8% respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) time and overall survival (OS) time were 12.0 (95% CI: 7.8–16.2 months) and 18.0 months (95% CI: 9.9–26.1 months), respectively. Grade 3 neutropenia, radiation-induced esophagitis and radiodermatitis were observed in 5 (13.9%), 3 (8.3%) and 8 (22.2%) patients respectively. There were two treatment-related deaths due to esophageal perforation and hemorrhea. For those patients with upper esophageal carcinoma, IMRT combined with concurrent TP regimen chemotherapy was an effective treatment. However, more attention should be paid to the occurrence of perforation and hemorrhea.