Prospective Study of Long Term Outcome in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Early and Middle Stage Treated with Combined External and Intracavitary Radiotherapy

[Purpose] To investigate long term outcome of nasopharyngeal carcinoma stage Ⅰand Ⅱ treated with combined external and intracavitary irradiation. [Methods] Four hundred fifty- three cases with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ⅠandⅡ stage were randomly divided into two groups: external radiotherapy alone group(n=297), conventional irradiation in total doses of 66～74Gy with lead block fitful fields; combiniation radiation group(n=156), same external irradiation in total dos- es of 58～62Gy and intracavitary irradiation with 15～20Gy dose. [Results] In external radiotherapy alone group and combiniation group, 5 years local control rate of stage Ⅰ was 92.86% and 96.43%(P=0.35); stage Ⅱ, 89.02% and 94.53%(P=0.01) respectively. Five years survival rate of stage Ⅰwas 88.10% and 92.86%(P=0.27); stage Ⅱwas 81.18% and 90.63%(P=0.03) respective- ly. Mouth dryness and difficultly opening were less occurred in combination group. [Conclusion] Nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients stage Ⅰ and Ⅱ treated with combined external and intracavi- tary radiotherapy have better response and less toxicity than those treated with conventional exter- nal radiotherapy alone.