Clinical analysis of chemotherapy plus radiotherapy in 120 cases of locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective:To study the influence of chemotherapy on the effect of radiotherapy in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods:Total of 120 patients with histologically proven nasopharyngeal carcinoma in stagesⅢ,Ⅳwere divided into two groups by the method of treatment.Radiotherapy group(65cases) only received radiotherapy with DT70 -76Gy in nasopharynx and DT50 -70Gy in the neck.Chemoradiotherapy group(55cases) received chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5 - fluorouracil before the same radiotherapy as the radiotherapy only group. Results:The 1,3,5 - year survival rates were 98%,76%,20%in chemoradiotherapy group and 96%,60%,18% in radiotherapy group respectively,with no significant difference between the two groups(P0.05).Distant metastasis rates were 20.9%in chemoradiotherapy group and 41.7%in radiotherapy group respectively(P0.05 ).Conclusion: Chemotherapy plus radiotherapy can decrease the distant metastasis rate for locally advanced nasoharyngeal carcinoma,but can not increase the long - term survival rate.