A comparison of two chemotherapy regimens in advanced, recurrent, or metastatic salivary gland carcinoma.

Background: The efficacy of chemotherapy in locally advanced, recurrent, and metastatic salivary gland carcinomas (LA-R/M SGCs) is still undefined. We aimed to compare the efficacy of two chemotherapy regimens in LA-R/M SGC.

Materials and methods: This prospective study compared paclitaxel (Taxol) plus carboplatin (TC) versus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, plus cisplatin (CAP) regimen in terms of overall response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS).

Results: Between October 2011 and April 2019, 48 patients with LA-R/M SGCs were recruited. The ORRs of first-line TC and CAP regimens were 54.2% and 36.3%, respectively (P = 0.57). The ORRs in recurrent and de novo metastatic patients were 50.0% and 37.5% for TC and CAP, respectively (P = 0.26). The median PFS of TC and CAP arms were 10.2 and 11.9 months, respectively (P = 0.91). In the subanalysis, patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) had longer PFS in the TC arm (14.5 vs. 8.2 months, P = 0.03), irrespective of the tumor grade (low grade: 16.3 vs. 8.9 months, high grade: 11.7 vs. 4.5 months; P = 0.03). The median OS rates were 45.5 and 19.5 months for TC and CAP groups, respectively (P = 0.71).

Conclusion: For patients with LA-R/M SGC, there was no significant difference between first-line TC and CAP in terms of ORR, PFS, and OS.