title: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma in childhood: long-term results of 32 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate treatment results and prognostic factors, pediatric patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were reviewed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-two patients at the age of 16 and younger were treated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. One patient had WHO type I, 15 had WHO type II, and 14 had WHO type III histology. All patients were treated with radiotherapy, median dose to nasopharynx and involved nodes was 70 Gy (range 60-70.4 Gy), three patients received intracavitary booster dose of 24 Gy in three fractions, 12 patients were also given from two to four courses of platinum based neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-three patients are alive and well with a median follow-up of 107 months. Ten and 15 years loco-regional control (LRC) and overall survival (OS) rates were 82.5, 68.7 and 72.7, 62.4%, respectively. Patient age, size of the lymph node and prolongation of overall external radiotherapy time were found to be the prognostic factors in univariate analysis, however the only factor remained significant after multivariate analysis was the size of the lymph node on LRC. Almost all long-term survivors experienced moderate to severe complications yielding complication free survival rate of 10.9% at 15 years.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Oncology Department, Cerrahpaşa Medical School, University of Istanbul, 34303, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uzel
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Yörük
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sahinler
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turkan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okkan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001918:Brachytherapy; D002648:Child; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000528:radiation effects; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D002945:Cisplatin