June 12, 2019
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Chemoradiotherapy fails to improve outcomes for advanced endometrial cancer

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Daniela Matei, MD
Daniela Matei

The addition of radiation to platinum-based chemotherapy did not improve RFS among women with stage III or IVA endometrial cancer, according to results of a randomized phase 3 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“The results of the study show that the combined modality regimen failed to improve RFS in women with stage III endometrial cancer. Thus, completion of systemic chemotherapy alone remains the standard of care for this group of patients,” Daniela Matei, MD, professor of medicine and gynecologic oncology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, told HemOnc Today.

The study by Matei and colleagues included 736 women with stage III or stage IVA endometrial cancer randomly assigned to chemoradiation over 21 weeks (n = 370; median age, 60.5 years; 78.6% white) or six cycles of chemotherapy alone over 17 weeks (n = 366; median age, 60 years; 76.2% white).

Twenty-nine eligible patients, including 24 in the chemoradiotherapy group, did not receive treatment.

RFS served as the study’s primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints included OS, acute and chronic toxic effects, and quality of life.

Median follow-up was 47 months.

At 60 months, Kaplan-Meier estimates showed RFS rates of 59% (95% CI, 53-65) for the chemoradiotherapy group and 58% (95% CI, 53-64) for the chemotherapy group (HR = 0.9; 95% CI, 0.74-1.1).

Researchers observed lower 5-year incidence in the chemoradiotherapy vs. chemotherapy group of vaginal recurrence (2% vs. 7%; HR = 0.36; 95% CI, 0.16-0.82) and pelvic and paraaortic lymph-node recurrence (11% vs. 20%; HR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.28-0.66), but higher incidence of distant recurrence (27% vs. 21%; HR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1-1.86).

A total of 165 deaths occurred, including 86 in the chemoradiotherapy group (73% due to disease progression) and 79 in the chemotherapy group (81% due to progression). OS data were immature for comparison.

Both groups experienced similar acute adverse events, the most common of which were blood or bone marrow events (any grade, 96% chemoradiotherapy vs. 90% chemotherapy only; grade 3 or higher, 40% vs. 52%). Constitutional symptoms, fatigue, and gastrointestinal, renal, genitourinary and musculoskeletal events occurred significantly more often in the chemoradiotherapy group, whereas hematologic adverse events occurred more frequently and were more severe in the chemotherapy-only group.

Overall, grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in 58% of patients in the chemoradiotherapy arm and 63% in the chemotherapy arm.

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“In our study, approximately 25% of patients who received the combined regimen did not complete the full intended course of chemotherapy. These patients also had diminished quality-of-life indices at the completion of treatment, persisting for at least 70 weeks,” Matei said. “Although local control was better for patients receiving both treatment modalities, the risk for distant metastasis was higher. Therefore, completion of chemotherapy remains key for patients with stage III uterine cancer.” – by John DeRosier

For more information:

Daniela Matei, MD, can be reached at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Center Room 5-121, 303 E. Superior St., Chicago, IL 60611; email: daniela.matei@northwestern.edu.

Disclosures: Matei reports consultant/advisory roles with and research funding from Astex Inc., AstraZeneca, Clovis, Genentech and Tesaro. Please see the study for all other authors relevant financial disclosures.