title: Forty-six cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with 50 Gy radiotherapy plus hematoporphyrin derivative: 20 years of follow-up and outcomes from the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the improved overall survival (OS) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, the importance of quality of life (QoL) is increasingly being recognized. For some radiosensitive NPC patients, whether low-dose radiotherapy can improve the QoL without affecting clinical efficacy is unknown. This study aimed to assess the survival rates and QoL of NPC patients treated with 50 Gy radiotherapy plus hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six newly diagnosed NPC patients treated with 50 Gy radiotherapy plus HPD between June 1988 and July 1992 were analyzed. All patients were restaged according to the 7th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system. The radiotherapy plan was designed on the basis of pretreatment computed tomography. The OS, local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. QoL was assessed using the Late Radiation Morbidity Scoring Criteria of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year OS, LRFS, DMFS, and DFS rates were 74.3%, 72.6%, 82.1%, and 61.2%, respectively. The corresponding 10-year rates were 38.4%, 62.9%, 78.5%, and 49.8%, respectively, and the 20-year rates were 27.7%, 51.4%, 78.5%, and 40.7%, respectively. None of the patients developed severe radiation-related complications, such as radiation-induced temporal lobe necrosis, hearing loss, trismus, and dysphagia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Some NPC patients were sensitive to 50 Gy radiotherapy plus HPD, and this sensitivity was characterized by long-term survival without significant late treatment morbidities.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Bing-Qing
authors.initials: BQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zi-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chang-Bing
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, Guangdong, P.R. China. xiayf@sysucc.org.cn.
authors.forename: Yun-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006415:Hematoporphyrins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D006415:Hematoporphyrins
keywords: Low-dose radiotherapy; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Quality of life; Radiosensitivity