{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T02:52:32Z","timestamp":1791341552437,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,11]],"date-time":"2026-07-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783728000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":88,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province","award":["Grant No. LMS25H220001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Grant No. LMS25H220001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Med"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The present study sought to compare the clinical efficacy and safety profiles of radiotherapy (RT) and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients who attained complete or partial response (CR\/PR) following induction chemotherapy (IC).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase 3 noninferiority trial was conducted at 7 Chinese hospitals. Patients with newly diagnosed stage III-IVb NPC who achieved CR\/PR after IC were randomly allocated (1:1) to either the RT (IC\u2009+\u2009RT) group or the CCRT (IC\u2009+\u2009CCRT) group. The chemotherapy protocol was identical across the two treatment groups. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints comprised overall survival (OS) and the incidence of adverse events. Statistical analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      From December 2016 to May 2023, 220 eligible patients with histologically confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma were enrolled. The trial was terminated early due to slow accrual. Of these patients, 109 were assigned to the IC\u2009+\u2009RT group and 111 to the IC\u2009+\u2009CCRT group. The median follow-up was 57 months (range, 8-107 months). The IC\u2009+\u2009RT and IC\u2009+\u2009CCRT groups showed comparable 5-year progression-free survival rates (87.0% vs. 80.7%,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.21). No significant differences were observed between the two treatment arms with respect to local relapse-free survival, regional relapse-free survival, locoregional relapse-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, or overall survival (all\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&gt;\u20090.05). The IC\u2009+\u2009RT group had significantly lower incidences of grade 3\u20134 hematologic and gastrointestinal toxicities than the IC\u2009+\u2009CCRT group. Additionally, grade 1\u20132 deafness\/otitis and liver dysfunction were also less frequent in the IC\u2009+\u2009RT group.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In NPC patients achieving CR\/PR after induction chemotherapy, IC\u2009+\u2009RT demonstrated a favorable safety profile compared with IC+CCRT. Although the observed survival outcomes were numerically comparable, the premature termination of the trial and insufficient statistical power preclude a definitive noninferiority claim. These hypothesis-generating findings warrant validation in future adequately powered trials.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03015727.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-026-05064-8","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,11]],"date-time":"2026-07-11T10:55:53Z","timestamp":1783767353000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Randomized, multicenter phase 3 study evaluating radiotherapy versus concurrent chemoradiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients achieving CR\/PR after induction chemotherapy"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Ting","family":"Jin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Feng","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qi-feng","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yong-Hong","family":"Hua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yong-shi","family":"Jia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"De-xi","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shu-bo","family":"Ding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hua-fang","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miao-zhen","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hui-juan","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiao-zhong","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10192","key":"5064_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"64","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(19)30956-0","volume":"394","author":"YP Chen","year":"2019","unstructured":"Chen YP, Chan ATC, Le QT, Blanchard P, Sun Y, Ma J. 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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and\/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments. Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain any individual person\u2019s data in any form.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"550"}}