[Therapeutic effect of medical therapy upon undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma: analysis of 149 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To study the therapeutic effect and prognosis of undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma. METHODS: 149 patients with undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma, 4 at stage I, 33 at stage II, 73 at stage III, and 39 at stage IV according to the Fuzhou Staging Criteria of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma 1992, were treated mainly by radiotherapy from 1999 to 2000: 78 of them underwent radiotherapy alone, 32 underwent radiotherapy combined with induced chemotherapy, and 39 underwent radiotherapy combined with synchronized chemotherapy. Relevant clinical data, especially the therapeutic effect upon and prognosis of the type, were analyzed. RESULTS: Undifferentaited nasopharyngeal carcinoma accounts for 3.58% of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and was with a 5-year overall survival rate (OS) of 64.48%, a disease-free survival rate (DFS) of 60.35%, a distance-metastasis-free (DMF) survival rate of 77.05%, and a local recurrence free (LRF) survival rate of 80.13%. The key factors influencing prognosis were the stage of N and stage of international classification of cancer based on TNM. CONCLUSION: Undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare type. Its prognosis is influenced mainly by the stage of N and TNM. Treatment maninly on radiotherapy is effective.