The nasopharyngeal carcinoma in children and adolescents usually presents in advanced locoregional stages.
Methods
Seeventeen patients, below the age of 18 years, with the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma were diagnosed and treated at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo, Egypt, during the period 1982-1987. These 17 patients were selected from 28 patients of the same age group to whom the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal malignancies were established. This diagnosis was confirmed morphologically and with immunostaining using antibodies against leucocyte common antigen (LCA), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), cytokeratin and vimentin.
Results
Eighty two percent of our patients were in T3 + T4 and 94 % had N 1-3 nodal status. The loco-regional control was 94 % with adequate conventional radiotherapy, while the distant metastasis rate was also high (81 %). The 5-year actuarial survival rate was 47 ± 11 % and the survival worsened with the advancement in T stage. However, the present study did not show any influence of N stage on survival. The relatively high survival rate depended mainly upon successful retrieval therapy with radiochemotherapy.
Conclusions
This emphasizes the role of combination chemotherapy in the treatment of relapsing nasopharyngeal carcinoma in young patients.
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