Clinical study of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

This study was a retrospective analysis of 65 patients with histologically confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma, who were treated at Kyushu University Hospital from 1992 to 2005. Radiotherapy consisted of once daily 1.5-2.0 Gy fractions 5 times per week to a total of 60-81 Gy. Chemotherapy was combined with radiotherapy in 61 patients. Forty-five patients received concurrent chemoradiotherapy with daily 5-FU (250 mg/body/day) or TS-1 (100mg/body/day) . Sixteen patients alternatingly received concurrent chemoradiotherapy with daily 5-FU or carboplatin (40 mg/body/day) and systemic chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin (80 mg/m², day 1) and peplomycin (5mg/body/day, days 2-6) after 30Gy irradiation. The five-year cause-specific survival (CSS) rate was 68%. CSS significantly favored the patients without lymph node metastasis. Local recurrence was observed in 14 patients, all of whom received radiotherapy for more than 75 days. Although prolonged duration of radiotherapy caused by chemotherapy regimen or its toxicity seemed to reduce effectiveness of radiation, chemoradiotherapy for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma might contribute to improving their survival.