Nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma: a review of 13 cases.
Nasopharyngeal mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is an extremely rare entity. To date, there is little published about its clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes. Between 1997 and 2009, 13 cases of MEC were confirmed and treated at the department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) and Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). Nasal obstruction, bleeding and hearing loss were the most common presentations, whereas, neck mass, headache and cranial nerve palsy were uncommon. Tumors remained stable after either primary radiation therapy or post-operative radiation therapy for the residual, though the majority of them were high or high-intermediate grade tumors. Five patients, who received either primary surgery or salvage surgery, had positive surgical margins, however, all are alive with stable disease except one old patient died of heart failure. The overall median survival of our patients was 43months, ranging from 8 to 80months. Based on the present results, we recommend that primary surgery should be the standard of care for all non-metastatic tumors regardless of histopathologic grade, and post-operative radiation therapy should be considered under the circumstances of positive surgical margins, macroscopic residual tumors, and high grade carcinomas.
Zhang
Xi-Mei
XM
Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) and Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Cao
Jian-Zhong
JZ
Luo
Jing-Wei
JW
Xu
Guo-Zhen
GZ
Gao
Li
L
Liu
Shao-Yan
SY
Xu
Zhen-Gang
ZG
Tang
Ping-Zhang
PZ
D000328:Adult; D018277:Carcinoma, Mucoepidermoid / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome