Abstract:

Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of apatinib as a maintenance treatment for metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma after chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Methods The patients with metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma，who received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy from April 2017 to April 2020，were selected. All the patients received apatinib 500 mg as maintenance treatment，and the efficacy and safety were observed. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the overall survival and progression-free survival. Results A total of 21 patients were enrolled，with a median age of 47 years. The median duration of apatinib medication was 4.7（range：0.6-14.1） months，the median follow-up time was 16.1（range：1.0-31.3）months，the median overall survival was 16.6 （95%CI：6.9-26.3） months，1-year survival rate was 53.2%，and the median progression-free survival was 10.8（95%CI：5.9-15.6） months，the 1-year progression-free survival rate was 31.9%. The treatment-related grade 3 adverse reactions were mainly hand-foot syndrome （9.52%），hypertension （4.76%），tired （4.76%），mouth pain （4.76%），and vomiting （4.76%）. No grade 4 adverse reactions were observed. Conclusions Apatinib maintenance treatment can be an option for metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It can significantly prolong progression-free survival and has controllable safety. However，further prospective studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.

Key words: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Metastasis, Apatinib, Maintenance treatment