Prognostic value of parotid lymph node metastasis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma receiving intensity-modulated radiotherapy.
The prognostic value and staging category of parotid lymph node (PLN) metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain unknown. We retrospectively reviewed MRI scans and medical records for 1811 NPC patients who received intensity-modulated radiotherapy. The diagnosis of PLN metastasis was mainly based on MRI follow-up. Twenty-five positive PLNs in 21/1811 patients were identified; the incidence of PLN metastasis was 1.2%. PLN metastasis was significantly associated with advanced N-category and stage. Ten of the 21 patients received irradiation of the involved PLNs; the PLN recurrence rate was significantly higher for patients who received no irradiation; thus only patients with irradiated PLN were included in prognostic analyses. PLN metastasis was associated with significantly poorer progression-free survival, overall survival and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), but not regional or local relapse-free survival, in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, PLN metastasis was also significantly associated with poor DMFS. PLN involvement had a significantly higher hazard ratio (HR) for distant failure than N2 disease and similar HR to N3 disease. In conclusion, PLN metastasis is rare in NPC and was associated with similarly poor DMFS as N3 disease. PLN metastasis should be suspected in advanced nodal disease, but diagnosed with care before administering aggressive treatment.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Yuan
Y
Zhang
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Wen-Fei
WF
Li
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Lei
L
Chen
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Yan-Ping
YP
Mao
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Rui
R
Guo
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Fan
F
Zhang
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Hao
H
Peng
Imaging Diagnosis and Interventional Center, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Li-Zhi
LZ
Liu
Imaging Diagnosis and Interventional Center, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Li
L
Li
Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Guangzhou 510080, People's Republic of China.
Qing
Q
Liu
Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Guangzhou 510060, People's Republic of China.
Jun
J
Ma
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010306:Parotid Gland; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated; D016896:Treatment Outcome