title: Does the prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer differ among endemic and non-endemic regions?
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  The survival rates and prognostic factors for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) were found to be similar to the published series from endemic regions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate treatment outcome and prognostic factors of NPC patients treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy in a non-endemic region.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed clinical characteristics, treatment outcome, and prognostic factors of NPC patients in a non-endemic region, and compared our institution's results with the published literature including a similar patient population from endemic and non-endemic regions. Among 248 NPC patients, 71 (28.6%) were female and 177 (71.4%) were male with a median age of 48 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Within a median 59 months (range 22-178) of follow-up, local recurrence developed in 22 (8.9%), regional recurrence in 2 (0.8%), locoregional recurrence in 5 (2%), distant metastases in 21 (8.5%), and both locoregional recurrence and distant metastases in 8 (3.2%) patients. Five-year locoregional control (LRC), disease-free survival (DFS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and overall survival (OS) rates were 83.7%, 73%, 78.5%, and 71.1%, respectively. In multivariate analysis for LRC, cranial nerve involvement (CNI) (p = 0.009) and tumor response (p = 0.004); for DFS, age (p = 0.003), CNI (p = 0.02), AJCC T classification (p = 0.05), and tumor response (p = 0.01); for DSS, age (p = 0.003), CNI (p = 0.04), AJCC T classification (p = 0.04), and tumor response (p = 0.01); for OS, age (p < 0.001), AJCC T classification (p = 0.005), and tumor response (p < 0.001) were significant prognostic factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. senem.demirci@ege.edu.tr
authors.forename: Senem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Demirci
authors.forename: Serra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamer
authors.forename: Gulsen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kara
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yildirim
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esassolak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult