PURPOSE: To explore the clinical characteristics of bone metastasis (BM) in a large sample of preliminarily diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs). METHODS: The sample consisted of 1,031 patients diagnosed with NPC at first visitg clinics between October 1989 and June 2012. Several parameters including metastasis locus, T/N staging, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of BM were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: In 70 patients who had been preliminarily diagnosed with BM, the incidence of BM in N0, N1, N2 and N3 stage was 5.7%, 17.2%, 50.2%, and 25.7%, respectively, while the incidence in T0, T1, T2 and T3 stage was 0%, 23.8%, 47.6% and 28.6% respectively. BM occurred in most common in vertebral column, rib, sternum, ilium and femur. Positive rate of Epstein-Barr virus antibody was 77.6%. The median survival time was 12 months. CONCLUSION: The incidence of BM in NPC preliminarily diagnosed is about 7% and it is related to N classification but not T classification.
PURPOSE: To explore the clinical characteristics of bone metastasis (BM) in a large sample of preliminarily diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs). METHODS: The sample consisted of 1,031 patients diagnosed with NPC at first visitg clinics between October 1989 and June 2012. Several parameters including metastasis locus, T/N staging, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of BM were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: In 70 patients who had been preliminarily diagnosed with BM, the incidence of BM in N0, N1, N2 and N3 stage was 5.7%, 17.2%, 50.2%, and 25.7%, respectively, while the incidence in T0, T1, T2 and T3 stage was 0%, 23.8%, 47.6% and 28.6% respectively. BM occurred in most common in vertebral column, rib, sternum, ilium and femur. Positive rate of Epstein-Barr virus antibody was 77.6%. The median survival time was 12 months. CONCLUSION: The incidence of BM in NPC preliminarily diagnosed is about 7% and it is related to N classification but not T classification.