title: Analysis of 1379 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated by radiation.
abstract: One thousand three hundred seventy-nine nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients were treated from March 1958 to December 1978. Twenty-two percent had stage I or II and 78% Stage III or IV had lesions. Two hundred twenty-Kv radiographs were used before 1960; and telecobalt was used from 1961 to 1978. Factors influencing the 5-year survival rate favorably are youth of patient, being female, pathologic condition (poorly differentiated carcinoma, 45.1% versus adenocarcinoma, 13%), stage (Stage I, 86%, Stage II, 59.5%; Stage III, 45.8%; Stage IV, 29.2%), decade admitted for treatment in the past (31% in the 1950s, 48.6% in the 1970s), total dose delivered to the nasopharynx (40 to 49 Gy, 46%; 70 to 79 Gy, 54.1%; 90 Gy or more, 64%) and prophylactic radiation to the neck regions (with prophylactic irradiation, 53.8%, without prophylactic irradiation, 23%). This implies that prophylactic radiation of the neck is crucial even without positive clinical metastasis. For those who have a residual tumor in the primary site when 70 Gy has been delivered, the total dose may be boosted to more than 90 Gy with the cone-down technique or on basis of adding 20 Gy to the dose at which the primary lesion disappeared grossly. The common postirradiation complications are: radiation myelitis, trismus, and otitis media. Because disease recurred in some patients after the fifth year, NPC patients should be followed for at least 10 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing.
authors.forename: D X
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: G Z
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: X L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: D X
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies