Overview of clinical trials for nasopharyngeal carcinoma(in the English literature)

Megavoltage radiation therapy (RT) is the primary treatment modality for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Treatment results have been steadily improving with rapid technological advances and better knowledge on optimization of dose fractionation. During the past decade, RT techniques have evolved from conventional 2-dimensional (2D) to 3-dimensional (3D) complex technique with multiple conformal fields and intensity-modulation. There is little controversy that intensity-modulated technique (IMRT) is recommended if resources permit, dosimetric studies show clear improvement in dose distribution, with conformity of high dose to concave tumor targets and sharp dose gradient for adequate tumor coverage and better protection of adjacent normal tissues.

基于IMRT时代的第八版AJCC／UICC鼻咽癌临床分期建议

目的准确的分期系统对癌症的治疗至关重要。随着癌症分期和治疗方法的演变，需要不断评价分期的适用性和改进性。方法基于第7版AJCC／UICC分期回顾性分析香港和中国大陆2个肿瘤中心收治的1609例接受调强放射治疗的首诊无转移鼻咽癌患者临床资料，所有患者治疗前均行核磁共振分期评估。结果无其他T3、T4期解剖结构受侵患者中，伴有咀嚼肌间隙（翼内肌和／或翼外肌）侵犯、椎前肌侵犯及咽旁间隙侵犯的三组患者之间0s相近。伴广泛软组织（上述侵犯结构以外的软组织）受侵患者OS与伴有颅内侵犯或颅神经侵犯相似。仅2％患者锁骨上窝以上淋巴结转移者直径〉6cm，其0s率与下颈淋巴结转移者类似。用下颈（环状软骨尾侧缘水平以下）代替锁骨上窝并不影响N分期之间的风险差异性。采用推荐的T、N分期，T。N。、T。N，期0s相近。结论经AJCC／UICC分期筹备委员会审阅后，建议第8版分期应将翼内肌／翼外肌从T。降到T：期，增加椎前肌为L期，用下颈取代锁骨上窝，将淋巴结最大直径〉6cm合并归为N，期，将T。、N，期统一归为Ⅳ。期。这些改变不仅使得相邻分期间风险差异性更好，而且使得临床实践性与全球适用性之间达到最佳平衡。