[Symptoms and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between the symptoms and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).


METHODS
The clinical data of 905 M0 NPC patients who received radical radiotherapy from January 1990 to May 1999 were retrospectively studied. Nodal distribution, cranial nerve paralysis, as well as the relationship between symptom duration and prognosis were analyzed.


RESULTS
The most common symptom in patients with NPC is neck node metastasis, with an incidence of 40.0% at the time of diagnosis, followed by blood-staining sputum (18.7%) and aural symptoms (17.0%). Node metastasis in the lower neck and supraclavicular region alone was seen in 10 patients (1.1%). Cranial nerve paralysis was found in 179 patients (19.8%). The 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival were significant lower in symptom duration more than 6 months group than in less than 6 months group (71.2% vs 79.8%, P = 0.008 and 51.9% vs 63.6%, P = 0.0008); however, the local control rate between these two group was not significantly different (79.4% vs 83.5%, P = 0.138).


CONCLUSIONS
The symptom duration is associated with the prognosis of NPC. Early diagnosis and treatment are the most important factors in improving the prognosis of NPC.
Yi
Jun-Lin
JL
Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital, CAMS and PUMC, Beijing 100021, China.
Gao
Li
L
Huang
Xiao-Dong
XD
Li
Su-Yan
SY
Luo
Jing-Wei
JW
Xu
Guo-Zhen
GZ
Xiao
Jian-Ping
JP
Cai
Wei-Ming
WM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies