Paclitaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin treatments are effective strategies for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. This study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of paclitaxel plus cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin as first-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. A total of 398 patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who received chemotherapy were included and divided into 2 groups: paclitaxel plus cisplatin group and 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin group. 195 patients received paclitaxel plus cisplatin and 203 patients received 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin. The objective response rates were 42.5% and 38.4% for paclitaxel plus cisplatin group and 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin group, respectively (P=0.948). The median progression-free survival was 7.85 months (95% CI, 6.77-8.94 months) for the paclitaxel plus cisplatin group and 6.53 months (95% CI, 5.63-7.43 months) for the 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin group with significant difference (P=0.02). The median overall survival was 13.46 months (95% CI, 12.01-14.91 months) for the paclitaxel plus cisplatin group and 12.67 months (95% CI, 11.87-13.47 months) for the 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin group (P=0.204). The first-line chemotherapy of paclitaxel plus cisplatin had better median progression-free survival than 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with tolerable toxicities.
Keywords: 5-fluorouracil; Paclitaxel; cisplatin; first-line treatment; squamous cell esophageal cancer.