Salvage surgery for recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To present our experience of salvage surgery for recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma after primary treatment by radiotherapy.


METHODS
Eleven of 25 patient treated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma between 1990 and 2003 with radiotherapy had either residual or recurrent disease and underwent salvage surgery. The type C infratemporal fossa approach was used to access residual tumor. The patients' progress was followed by clinical examination and interval magnetic resonance scans.


RESULTS
The results were analyzed in terms of morbidity and oncological outcome; patients were recorded as NED (no existing disease), AWD (alive with disease), and DOD (died of disease). A disease-free survival rate of 72% was achieved in the salvage surgery group of patients and an overall disease-free survival rate of 56% applied to the initial cohort of 25 patients, following both the single mode and combined treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Salvage surgery is feasible for patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma and may be achieved with minimal morbidity using the type C infratemporal fossa approach.
Danesi
Giovanni
G
ENT Department and Microsurgery of the Skull Base, Ospedali Riuniti, Bergamo, Italy.
Zanoletti
Elisabetta
E
Mazzoni
Antonio
A