A randomized trial of sodium alginate prevention of esophagitis in LA-NSCLC receiving chemoradiotherapy: OLCSG1401

Background: Radiation esophagitis is a critical adverse event that needs to be appropriately managed while administering thoracic irradiation. This trial aimed to investigate whether sodium alginate has preventative effects on esophagitis in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

Methods: Patients with untreated stage III NSCLC who were eligible for concurrent CRT were randomly assigned at a 1:1:1 ratio to receive one of the following treatments: initial or late use of oral sodium alginate (arms A and B) or water as control (arm C). The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients developing G3 or worse esophagitis.

Results: Overall, 94 patients were randomly assigned between February 2014 and September 2018. The study was prematurely terminated because of slow accrual. The proportions of patients with G3 or worse esophagitis were 12.5%, 9.8%, and 19.4% in arms A, B, and C, respectively. Patients receiving sodium alginate had fewer onsets of G3 esophagitis; however, differences compared with arm C were not significant (A vs. C: p = 0.46; B vs. C: p = 0.28). The rates of grade 3 or worse non-hematologic toxicities besides esophagitis were 29%, 26%, and 43% in arms A, B, and C, respectively. Interestingly, compared with arm C, a low rate of febrile neutropenia was observed in arm A (3.1% vs. 19.4%: p = 0.04).

Conclusions: Sodium alginate did not show significant preventative effects on radiation-induced esophagitis in patients with NSCLC. The frequency of CRT-induced febrile neutropenia was lower in the early use sodium alginate arm.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier Registry number: UMIN000013133.