Radiation therapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: prognostic factors based on a 10-year follow-up of 1302 patients.

One thousand three hundred and two patients with carcinoma of the nasopharynx were initially treated with radiation therapy at this hospital in 1974. The overall 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates were 89.86%, 60.60%, 47%, and 33.03% respectively. At the end of the radiotherapeutic course the residual lesion rate was 10.52% in the nasopharynx 17.27% in cervical lymphnode. In about one-half of the cases with residual lesions, the masses disappeared without further treatment. Prognosis was not improved in the group with supplemental doses. The recurrence rates of the primary nasopharyngeal and metastatic cervical lesion were 18.43%, and 16.12% respectively within 10 years after initial treatment. The 10-year survival rate of the patients with a second course of radiotherapy was 15.04%, higher than of those not retreated (4.9%). Data of this group also reveal that the present pathological classification cannot reflect the degree of prognosis. Increase dosage or combination with chemotherapy did not improve the prognosis. Radiation encephalomyetic damage is discussed.