What is the best treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

The main treatment for NPC is radiation therapy. It is often given in combination with chemotherapy. This approach may be called concomitant chemoradiotherapy. Surgery for NPC is occasionally used, mainly to remove lymph nodes after chemoradiotherapy or to treat NPC that has come back after initial treatment.

Can nasopharyngeal cancer be cured with surgery?

Because the nasopharynx is a hard place to operate on and because other types of treatment often work well, surgery is not usually the main treatment for people with nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). Surgery is more often done to remove lymph nodes in the neck that haven’t responded to other treatments.

What is the survival rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

The 5-year survival rate for people with NPC is 61\%. However, survival rates depend on many factors, including the location of the tumor and if or where it has spread, called the stage. If the cancer is located only in the nasopharynx, the 5-year survival rate is 85\%.

What is the best treatment of locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

The three best treatments for distant control were IC-CRT, IC-RT, and CRT-AC, with respective P-scores of 95\%, 76\%, and 72\%. The comparison between CRT-AC and CRT showed the absence of significant difference, with an HR (95\% CI) of 0.87 (0.61 to 1.25).

How many chemo treatments are needed for nasopharyngeal?

You usually have 3 cycles of chemotherapy before starting chemoradiotherapy. You usually have up to 6 cycles of cisplatin and gemcitabine for nasopharyngeal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

What is Stage 3 nasopharyngeal?

Stage 3 nasopharyngeal cancer means one of the following: The cancer has spread to nearby bones and air cavities (sinuses). It might also have spread to lymph nodes on one or both sides of the neck, or behind the throat, but not anywhere else. The affected lymph nodes are not more than 6 cm across.

What chemo is used for nasopharyngeal cancer?

Cisplatin is the chemo drug used most often to treat NPC. It’s used alone as part of chemoradiation. It may be combined with another drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), if it’s given after chemoradiation or radiation.

What is stage 4 nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

In stage IVB, cancer has spread beyond the lymph nodes in the neck to distant lymph nodes, such as those between the lungs, below the collarbone, or in the armpit or groin, or to other parts of the body, such as the lung, bone, or liver.

What is advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

Nasopharyngeal cancer is a rare type of cancer that affects the part of the throat connecting the back of the nose to the back of the mouth (the pharynx). In the UK, about 260 people are diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer each year.

What is metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

Most people with nasopharyngeal carcinoma have regional metastases. That means cancer cells from the initial tumor have migrated to nearby areas, such as lymph nodes in the neck. Cancer cells that spread to other areas of the body (distant metastases) most commonly travel to the bones, lungs and liver.

How long is radiation treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer?

Most often, radiation treatments are given 5 days a week for about 7 weeks. EBRT is most often given using a technique called intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). IMRT focuses the radiation better and lowers the radiation exposure to nearby healthy tissues. This helps reduce side effects.

How long is chemo for nasopharyngeal cancer?

Cycles generally last about 3 to 4 weeks. Chemo is often not used for patients in poor health, but advanced age by itself should not keep anyone from getting chemo.

How is chemotherapy used to treat nasopharyngeal cancer?

Chemotherapy at the same time as radiation therapy. When the two treatments are combined,chemotherapy enhances the effectiveness of radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy after radiation therapy. Your doctor might recommend chemotherapy after radiation therapy or after concomitant therapy.

Chemotherapy before radiation therapy.

How is radiation therapy used to treat nasopharyngeal cancer?

Radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells.

Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is usually given with radiation therapy to treat most stages of nasopharyngeal cancer.

Surgery.

Immunotherapy.

If you can’t have or don’t want cancer treatment.

Follow-up care.

Clinical trials.

Questions to ask about treatment.

What are the stages of nasopharyngeal cancer?

There are four stages of nasopharyngeal cancer. The lower the number, the less the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Stage 1 is called early stage nasopharyngeal cancer. Stage 2 is called intermediate-stage nasopharyngeal cancer. Stages 3 and 4 are called advanced or late-stage nasopharyngeal cancer.

What is the prognosis for nasopharyngeal cancer?

Nasopharyngeal Cancer: Statistics. The 5-year survival rate for people with NPC is 60\%. For the earliest stage of NPC, stage I (1), the 5-year survival rate is 72\%. About 9\% of people with NPC are diagnosed at this stage. The 5-year survival rate for stage II (2) disease is 64\% and stage III (3) disease is 62\%.