Clinical efficacy and safety of hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy in the treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of the hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy in the treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Clinical data of 153 patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma admitted to our hospital from 2008 to 2013 undergoing hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3 Gy for each time,5 times a week,a total dose of 51-60 Gy,17-20 times/4 weeks) were retrospectively analyzed.The short-and long-term radiation-induced injury,Karnofsky performance score (KPS),short-and long-term clinical efficacy were evaluated.Results For the short-term radiation-induced injury,the incidence of oral mucosa and fatigue significantly differed before and after treatment (both P＜0.05).Regarding the long-term radiation-induced injury,the incidence of dry mouth (95.4％) and deafness (51.0％),difficulty in opening mouth (79.1％),maxillofacial fibrosis (33.3％) and radiation-induced encephalopathy (15.0％) significantly differed before and following treatment (all P＜ 0.05).The actual long-term radiation-induced injury included dry mouth (91.5％),deafness (50.9％),difficulty in opening mouth (76.5％),maxillofacial fibrosis (32.0％) and radiation-induced encephalopathy (14.4％).The number of patients with changes in the KPS scores significantly differed between the end of treatment and 3 months after treatment (P＜0.05).The local control rates were 29.4％,68.6％,79.1％,83.7％ and 86.9％ at 1-,3-,6-,9-and 12-month after corresponding treatment,respectively.The local control rate significantly differed between 1 and 3 months,and between 3 and 6 months after treatment (both P＜0.05).The 1-,2-,3-,4-and 5-year survival rates were calculated as 96.1％,80.4％,68.5％,57.9％ and 51.1％,respectively.Conclusions Hypofractionated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is an efficacious and safe treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal nasopharyngeal carcinoma,which yields relatively high short-and long-term clinical efficacy,high local control rate and well tolerance by the patients.