title: [Diagnostic and therapeutic problems of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in childhood (author's transl)].
abstract: Between 1974 and 1978 three children with a nasopharyngeal carcinoma (stages: T3N3MO, T4N2MO, T4N1MO) were treated with primary radiotherapy (tumor dose: 45-67 Gy). Local control was achieved in two children, one of these (T4 primarily) had a local relapse five months after diagnosis. Only one of the three children had radiotherapy to the neck region. This child developed lung and mediastinal metastases with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy twelve months after diagnosis. In the other two children lung metastases were observed two and seven weeks after the diagnosis respectively. In these two radiotherapy of metastases and chemotherapy were considered more important than radiotherapy of the neck region. All three children showed disappearance or considerable reduction of lung metastases due to radio- and chemotherapy. Yet, all three died of progressive disease within a few months. Early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in children will only be possible when pediatricians are more aware of this disease, also in our regions. Radiotherapy should be done only with megavoltage equipment using extensive radiation fields for the primary tumor area and elective radiation of the neck region. The use of additional primary chemotherapy is suggested for stages T3/T4. This mode of management may help to prevent distant metastases.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage
vernacular_title: Diagnostische und therapeutische Probleme des Nasopharynxkarzinoms im Kindesalter anhand von drei Patienten.