Tegafur-uracil as a Maintenance Therapy for Non-metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Insights from the Literature

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains a challenging malignancy with high rates of recurrence following definitive therapy. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of tegafur-uracil (UFT) maintenance therapy in patients with non-metastatic NPC after curative treatment. A systematic literature search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was performed to identify eligible studies. Three retrospective cohort studies including a total of 558 patients were analyzed. Random-effects meta-analysis demonstrated that UFT maintenance therapy significantly improved both progression-free survival [hazard ratio (HR)=0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.35-0.81] and overall survival (HR=0.37, 95%CI=0.21-0.65) compared to observation alone. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings. However, trial sequential analysis indicated that the cumulative evidence did not meet the a priori information size required for a conclusive result, highlighting the need for further high-quality studies. In summary, UFT maintenance therapy may represent a promising option to reduce recurrence and improve survival in non-metastatic NPC, particularly in settings where access to novel agents is limited, but additional prospective studies are needed to confirm its clinical benefit.