ABSTRACT
Objective:To evaluate the survival prognosis for T 1 stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients complicated with different stages of cervical lymph node metastasis, aiming to provide reference for optimizing the treatment plan. Methods:Clinical data of 413 patients in non-keratinizing carcinoma and undifferentiated locally early nasopharyngeal carcinoma (T 1N 0-3M 0-1) undergoing radiotherapy alone or radiochemotherapy in Department of Radiation Oncology of our hospital from January 2014 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The survival analyses were performed with Kaplan-Meier method and statistically compared using the log-rank test. Results:Of all patients, 291 were male, and 122 were female (aged from 9 to 78 years old) with a median age of 51 years old. All patients were diagnosed with T 1N 0-3M 0-1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In the TNM stage grouping system, 48(11.6%) patients were classified as stage Ⅰ (T 1N 0M 0), 158(38.2%) cases of stage Ⅱ(T 1N 1M 0), 162(39.2%) cases of stage Ⅲ(T 1N 2M 0), and 45(10.9%) cases of stage Ⅳ A to Ⅳ B(T 1N 3M 0/T 1N xM 1). Eight patients (1.9%) with stage Ⅳ B had metastasis at presentation. The lymph node positivity rate of all patients reached up to 88.1%. Seven patients received three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, 371 cases of intensity-modulated radiotherapy and 35 cases of volumetric-modulated arc therapy. The 5-year overall survival rate was (95.9±1.2)% and with 100% for T 1N 0M 0 patients, (99.2±0.8)% for T 1N 1M 0 patients, (95.1±2.2)% for T 1N 2M 0 patients and (87.9±6.6)% for T 1N 3M 0 patients, respectively. Primary distant metastasis and N 3 stage were significantly correlated with poor prognosis (both P<0.05). The most common long-term side effect of radiotherapy was xerostomia with an incidence rate of 18.6%(17.9% for grade 1 toxicity), followed by hearing damage and tooth discomfort. Only 2 patients developed Grade Ⅲ toxic reactions, manifested as complete hearing loss. Conclusions:Although T 1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients have a high propensity of cervical node metastasis, favorable clinical prognosis can be obtained after radiotherapy alone. Moreover, the long-term side effects under precision radiation exert no severe effect upon the quality of life of patients.
ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the prognostic value of the 7th edition of AJCC cancer staging system in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients treated with conventional radiotherapy (CRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).Methods From January 2004 to December 2006,totally 1138 NPC patients were treated with CRT (790 patients) and IMRT (348 patients) in Cancer Hospital of Fujian province.The median ages were 47 and 45 years old for two groups ( x2 =1.49,P =0.222 ),respectively.There were 0,41,488,261 and 5,65,176,102 patients in stage Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ,Ⅳ of the two groups after restaged with 7th edition of AJCC cancer staging system,respectively (x2 =64.78,P =0.001 ).The 3-year survival was analyzed according to T-category,N-category and overall stage.Results The follow-up rate at 3 years is 96.0％.The median follow-up were 32 months and 33 months for CRT and IMRT groups.N-category was found to be the prognostic factors for overall survival (OS,x2 =6.50,P =0.038 and x2 =13.60,P =0.004) and metastasis free survival ( MFS,x2 =7.78,P =0.009 and x2 =15.30,P =0.002) for CRT and IMRT groups.The clinical stage was prognostic factor for OS in conventional group ( x2 =6.70,P=0.035),and for MFS in IMRT group (x2 =9.12,P=0.028).Conclusions The T-calegory of 7th AJCC staging system shows poor predictive value for the long-term survival of NPC patients.The N-calegory of 7th AJCC staging system can well estimate the OS and MFS for NPC.