Prognostic Factors of Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare disease among Caucasians and Japanese but occurs with alarming frequency among Southern Chinese. Based on surgical specimens NPC is the most common cancer in males and the third most common in females in Taiwan (1).

Perez and associates (2) reported a series of 79 patients with malignant tumors of the nasopharynx in 1969. They stated that the age of patients was significant at the three-year cure rate but not at five years; the sex of patients was not significant at either the three-year or five-year cure rate. However, Schnohr (3), after a review of 516 cases of nasopharyngeal cancer in California reported that female patients survived longer than male patients. From our clinical experience, we felt that the younger NPC patients and the female NPC patients had better prognoses. Several articles (4-6) pointed out that the histologic classification of NPC affected the survival rates. Patients with lymphoepithelioma had a better prognosis than those with differentiated epidermoid carcinoma. Besides, excisional neck biospy performed before the initial treatment might influence the outcomes of NPC patients. Although radiation therapy is still the mainstay of treatment, a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for NPC has been applied in our institute since 1979. After computer analysis, various factors were revealed influencing the survivals and hence prognosis. This communication presents those factors affecting the outcomes of NPC patients.