Neoplasms

Mouth and Tooth Diseases

Ear, Nose, and Throat Diseases

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Rare Diseases

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Carcinoma

Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial

Neoplasms by Histologic Type

Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms

Pharyngeal Neoplasms

Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms

Head and Neck Neoplasms

Nasopharyngeal Diseases

Pharyngeal Diseases

Stomatognathic Diseases

Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases

Whole neck irradiation is given in the involved neck. Elective neck irradiation of Level II,III and Va lymph node area is given in the uninvolved neck, and Level IV and Vb lymph node area were not irradiated in the uninvolved neck.

Whole neck irradiation is given regardless of the involved or uninvolved neck.

Elective neck irradiation

Whole neck irradiation

Linglong Tang, M.D.,PhD

Currently, most protocols of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) of various research bodies such as the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group require routine elective irradiation to the retropharyngeal area and to levels II-V lymph nodal areas regardless of the status of nodal metastasis. Previous studies had confirmed that the pattern of cervical lymph node (LN) metastasis in NPC followed an orderly manner. Retropharyngeal LNs were the most commonly involved, followed by upper neck levels II, III, or VA nodes, and finally to the lower neck nodes including level IV and VB nodes; and the incidence of LN skip metastasis is rare, ranging from 0.5% to 7.9%. It was rare for NPC patients without neck LN metastases to experience neck failure after elective irradiation to levels II, III and VA. It was also confirmed that with unilateral LN metastases of higher-level LNs usually spread down ipsilateral LNs. Thus, the investigators conduct the non-inferior randomized trial to determine the value of elective neck irradiation in NPC patients with unilateral or bilateral uninvolved neck.

Individualized Elective Neck Irradiation Based on MRI in NPC Patients

The Multicenter Randomized Phase 3 Trial of Individualized Elective Neck Irradiation Based on MRI in Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

The regional relapse-free survival rate will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method for each arm from the date of randomization to the date of nodal relapse or death from any cause, whichever occurred first. Their differences will be compared between treatment arms using the log-rank test.

Acute and late toxicity will be documented according to RTOG/EORTC System and the CTCAE(Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events). Toxicity will be summarized using descriptive statistics.

The overall survival rate will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method for each arm from the date of randomization to death from any cause. Their differences will be compared between treatment arms using the log-rank test.

The local relapse-free survival rate will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method for each arm from the date of randomization to documented local relapse or death from any cause. Their differences will be compared between treatment arms using the log-rank test.

The distant metastasis-free survival rate will be estimated using Kaplan-Meier method for each arm from the date of randomization to documented distant metastasis or death from any cause. Their differences will be compared between treatment arms using the log-rank test.

European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Core 30 items (QLQ-C30) version 1.0 questionnaires will be used to assess quality-of-life. All items pointing to this domain are averaged and then transformed to a scale of 0-100 according to the EORTC scoring manual. Higher scores on global health status suggest better health.

European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Core 30 items (QLQ-C30) version 1.0 questionnaires will be used to assess quality-of-life. All items pointing to this domain are averaged and then transformed to a scale of 0-100 according to the EORTC scoring manual. Higher scores on the functioning scales suggest better function.

European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Core 30 items (QLQ-C30) version 1.0 questionnaires will be used to assess quality-of-life. All items pointing to this domain are averaged and then transformed to a scale of 0-100 according to the EORTC scoring manual. Higher scores on the symptom scales indicate more severe symptoms.

European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Head and Neck 35 items (QLQ-H\&N35) version 1.0 questionnaires will be used to assess quality-of-life. All items pointing to this domain are averaged and then transformed to a scale of 0-100 according to the EORTC scoring manual. Higher scores on the symptom scales indicate more severe symptoms.

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for whole neck irradiation