Prognostic Significance and Treatment Outcomes of Combination of Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy in Nasopharyngeal Cancer

Lim, Sang Chul; Cho, Jae Shik; Cho, Yeon; Kim, Pan Su; Lee, Joon Kyoo; Seo, Deok Jung

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: T he diagnosis of a nasopharyngeal carcinoma is frequently made at an advanced stage. The anatomic complexicity of the nasopharynx makes a surgical approach difficult, so the radiation therapy is traditionally used as a primary option. Because of the high incidence of a locoregional failure following the radiotherapy and the distant metastasis, the combined treatment modality with the chemotherapy has been applied. The author attempted to investigate the clinical characteristics and the treatment outcomes of nasopharyngeal cancer patients treated with the combination of the radiotherapy and the chemotherapy.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
We retrospectively analyzed 82 patients who were diagnosed with the nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Chonnam National University Hospital.
RESULTS
The cumulative survival rates for a 5-year period were 42%. The pathologic type, the clinical stage, the cranial nerve invasion, and the response to the radiotherapy were related to the survival rate of the Kaplan-Meier test (p<0.05). In the Cox proportional hazard model, only the response to radiotherapy was related to the survival rate (p=0.05), as the clinical stage wasn't (p=.06). In the multivariate analysis between the responses to radiation and the clinical factor, the histological type (p=0.018) and the response to the chemotherapy (p=0.021) was statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
The response to radiation is the most important in the patient's survival. The clinical stage is a probable prognostic factor. Factors affecting the response to radiation are the histological type and the response to chemotherapy.