Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: results of treatment over a 27 year period, 1950 through 1977.

In a retrospective study, 107 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx were reviewed. One hundred six patients were treated primarily by radiation therapy and only one by surgery. The overall 5 year survival rate free of disease was 29 percent. Possible prognostic factors of age, sex, cancer stage, histopathology, and treatment were studied. The younger patients did significantly better. Patient's sex and clinical stage were not significant factors in this study. The patients with lymphoepitheliomas, anaplastic carcinomas, and those with poorly differentiated cell types did significantly better than those with more differentiated lesions. Fifty-five patients received irradiation therapy of 6,000 rads by external ports alone, and 51 patients received radiation therapy of 6,000 rads by external ports supplemented by 1,500 rads using an intracavitary radium applicator. The higher survival rate with the use of the supplementary dosage was only suggestively significant.