Treatment of local recurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma with reirradiation

Abstract

From 1975 to 1987, 112 patients with loco-regional recurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (N P C) were treated again with radiation at our hospital. All cases were proven histologically by biopsy. Of these patients, 92 had their recurrence in the nasopharynx only, 13 had additional involvement of the base of the skull, and 7 had tumor recurrences simultaneously in the nasopharynx as well as the cervical lymph nodes. Radiotherapy adopted in this series was⁶⁰Co external irradiation (X R Te) and/or betatron in 96 patients, X R Te plus intracavitary⁶⁰Co irradiation (X R Ti) in 12 patients and X R Ti alone in the other 4 patients. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 86.3%, 45.8% and 30.2% respectively after the start of recurrence retreatment. The 63 patients who survived for 5 years or more were analyzed. The prognosis of the patient was related to the histological type, clinical stage, modality of treatment, and disease interval to recurrence and site of recurrence. No serious complications occurred. It is suggested that re-irradiation is appropriate in the treatment of loco-regional recurrent N P C.