title: Primary tumour volume: important predictor of outcome for T3- and T4-staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between primary tumour volumes and treatment outcomes within T3- and T4-staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary care centre.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty newly diagnosed T3-staged patients and 36 newly diagnosed T4-staged patients participated in the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Computed tomography-derived primary tumour volume was obtained from the summation of areas technique. The probabilities of achieving tumour control and patient survival were estimated using the product-limit method of Kaplan and Meier. The log rank test was used to examine significance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In T3-staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the median primary tumour volume was 29.6 mL, with a range from 8.0 to 131.8 mL. After segregating the primary tumour volume into two subgroups (< 30 mL, > 30 mL), large primary tumour volume was associated with a significantly poorer disease-specific survival (p = .0001). In T4-staged cases, the median primary tumour volume was 54.07 mL, with a range from 6.7 to 223.1 mL. After segregating the primary tumour volume into two subgroups (< 60 mL, > 60 mL), larger primary tumour volume was associated with a significantly poorer disease-specific survival (p = .0022).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Within the same T3- and T4-staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the primary tumour volume represented an important prognostic factor. To improve the treatment outcome of T3- and T4-staged nasopharyngeal carcinoma with large primary tumour volumes, more aggressive treatment is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Changhua Christian Hospital, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mu-Kuan
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hong-Shen
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Cheng-Chuan
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome