Clinical analysis of cases with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Forty-one cases with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated in our department between 1991 and 2007 were clinically analyzed. The mean age of the cases was 53 years old, and the male-to female ratio was 3.6:1. The most common chief complaint was ear symptoms followed by neck, eye, and nose symptoms. The most common histology was squamous cell carcinoma, followed by undifferentiated carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and spindle cell carcinoma. More than half of the cases were classified as clinical stage IV. For squamous cell carcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma, spindle cell carcinoma cases, concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy was applied. For adenocarcinoma cases, transpalatal resection and postoperative radiotherapy was applied. The five-year overall survival rate was 64.1% and the disease-specific five-year survival rate was 71.2%. No significant statistical differences were seen between early stage (I, II) and late stage (III, IV), between I, II, III stage and IV stage. Recurrence occurred in 24.4% of the cases, and distant metastasis was more dominant than local recurrence. For the diagnosis and treatment of NPC, proper detection of NPC from variegated symptoms, and chemoradiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma cases were considered to be important. (author)