Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in NRG Oncology RTOG 0436: a phase III trial evaluating the addition of cetuximab to paclitaxel, cisplatin, and radiation for esophageal cancer treated without surgery.

Purpose/objectives: NRG/RTOG 0436 evaluated cetuximab added to chemoradiation (CRT) for non-operative esophageal cancer management. PRO objectives assessed improvement in the FACT-Esophageal cancer subscale (ECS), version 4, with cetuximab, and if improved ECS correlated with clinical complete response (cCR).

Materials/methods: Patients were randomized to cisplatin/paclitaxel/radiation ± cetuximab. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint, with a 420 patient target, which also provided 82% power to detect ≥ 15 increase in the proportion of cetuximab patients with ECS improvement from baseline to 6-8 weeks post-CRT; α = 0.05, using a χ test. Improvement in ECS and its Swallowing and Eating Indices (SI, EI) was defined as 5, 4 and 2 point increases, respectively, from baseline to 6-8 weeks post-CRT. Univariate logistic regression assessed if cCR was associated with improved ECS.

Results: This study was stopped early for not meeting a pre-specified OS endpoint and did not show survival benefit. Of 420 planned patients, 344 enrolled and 281 consented to PROs. ECS was completed by 261 (93%) at baseline, 173 (66%) 6-8 weeks post-CRT, and 117 (64%) at 1 year. At 6-8 weeks, patients receiving CRT + Cetuximab didn't have improved ECS; they experienced a lower proportion of improvement compared to standard CRT (37% vs. 53%; P = 0.04). The proportion of CRT patients with improvement in SI was 9% higher than with cetuximab, but not statistically significant (39% vs. 30%, P = 0.22). There was no association between treatment and EI. When examining ECS scores at 1 year by cCR vs. residual disease, a higher proportion of cCR patients improved, but not statistically significant (48% vs. 45%, P = 0.74).

Conclusions: The addition of cetuximab to CRT for the nonoperative management of esophageal cancer did not improve PROs.