Second-line docetaxel-based chemotherapy after failure of fluorouracil-based first-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

[esophageal squamous cell carcinoma]

This retrospective analysis evaluates the clinical efficacy and toxicity of second -line docetaxel-based chemotherapy after failure of fluorouracil-based first -line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC ).We retrospectively reviewed patients who had received second -line docetaxel-based chemotherapy for advanced ESCC in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital between January 2008 and December 2011 . Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method . The Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis .Eighty -five patients received docetaxel-based second -line chemotherapy after the failure of first -line fluorouracil-based treatment . Forty -four patients received docetaxel-platinum chemotherapy , and 41 received docetaxel single -agent treatment . The progression-free survival (PFS ) and overall survival (OS ) were 3 .5 and 5 .5 months in all of the patients , respectively . There were no statistically significant differences in PFS and OS between docetaxel-platinum and docetaxel single -agent chemotherapy groups (P-value 0 .38 and 0 .64 , respectively ). Response to first -line chemotherapy was a favorable prognostic factor for PFS in uni- and multivariate analyses (P-value 0 .005 and 0 .028 , respectively ).Patients with docetaxel-based second -line treatment obtained a moderate PFS advantage in advanced ESCC . Response to first -line chemotherapy was a favorable prognostic factor for PFS of second -line chemotherapy in advanced ESCC .