Treatment results of primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma at Metropolitan Komagome Hospital

Forty-six patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were treated at Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital during 1980-2002, averaging 59.4 years of age. We treated nasopharyngeal carcinoma with radiation and adjuvant chemotherapy, and treated ten patients with only radiation. More than half of the patients were classified into stage IV. The five-year cause-specific survival was 55.0% and overall survival was 53.4%. Although adjuvant chemotherapy after radiation did not result in a significant improvement in survival rate, we conclude that chemotherapy is necessary for a better prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, especially for N3 (International Union Against Cancer (UICC), 1997) cases to suppress the distant metastasis. (author)