Although common, the use of chemotherapy for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is controversial due to its undefined clinical benefits. We therefore conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate whether chemotherapy confers survival gains to stage II NPC patients. A total of 251 stage II (2010 UICC/AJCC staging system) NPC patients treated between January 2007 and December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were matched using the propensity-score matching method. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints were locoregional-free survival (LRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). Our analyses revealed no significant differences in OS, LRFS, or DMFS for stage II NPC patients treated with radiotherapy (RT) alone, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), or CCRT + adjuvant chemotherapy (AC). T2N1 (OR = 6.690; 95% CI, 3.091-14.481) and T1N1 (OR = 5.857; 95% CI, 2.278-15.061) patients were more likely to receive CCRT than T2N0 patients. Similarly, both T2N1 (OR = 10.513; 95% CI, 3.439-32.137) and T1N1 (OR = 7.321; 95% CI, 1.978-27.098) patients were more likely to receive CCRT + AC than T2N0 patients. The present matched survival analysis suggests potential overuse of chemotherapy in stage II NPC, as the addition of chemotherapy did not provide a survival benefit in this group of patients.
Keywords: chemotherapy; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; stage II; survival.