1993 Volume 5 Issue 4 Pages 285-292
A new protocol for the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer was designed and has been employed since 1984 at Hyogo Medical Center for Adults. Thirty-three previously untreated patients who were assigned to this protocol from 1984 to 1991 were analyzed in this study. Eighty-six nasopharyngeal cancer patients who were treated at our institution from 1972 to 1983 were chosen as an historical control group. All patients were followed up for a minimum of 2 years. The essence of the treatment philosophy of our protocolwas; 1) Combination chemo-radiotherapy using CDDP (but excluding patients 70 years old or older). 2) Boost irradiation of 10-20 Gy for patients with tumors persisting evenat 40 Gy or T4 cases. 3) Prophylactic neck irradiation. The protocol yielded a better 5-year survival rate (56.6% vs 47.6%, p<0.05) and less frequent locoregional failure rate (18.2%vs 48.8%, p<0.01) than those of patients in the control group. Among the patients with T1-3 and NO-2 disease, the difference between survival rates with and without protocol was statistically significant but not for the patients with T4 and N3 disease. The protocol was well tolerated by most of the patients.
