10-year survival rate for patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiation therapy. Clinical analysis of 367 cases.

Of 1,344 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated during 1961-1965 at the Shanghai Cancer Hospital, 367 who survived over 10 years after radiation therapy, were analysed. The results showed that the patients with stage I, II nasopharyngeal carcinoma and those with stage III, IV, the 10-year survival rates were 41.5% and 22.8% respectively, the overall 10-year survival rate being 27.3%. The 10-year survival rate was higher for female patients than for males, and was not related to the age of the patients and the pathological type of this carcinoma. The optimal tumor dosage was thought to be 60-70 Gy 350(95.4%) out of the 367 patients received radiotherapy only once. The rest received repeated irradiation for recurrence. For the reirradiated patients, the 10-year survival rate was 13.5%. Most recurrences occurred 5 years after radiotherapy (12/17), and only 5 within 3 years.