Objective To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tumorfree survivors,and analyze the factors affecting the QOL of NPC patients.Methods The QOL and demographic variables (gender,age,education,marital status,income,dialects,concomitant chronic disease,clinical stage,treatment method,radiation course,and radiotherapy stages) were collected.ANOVA and t test were used to compare the QOL of NPC patients among different demographic variables. Multivariate ANOVA was used to select the influencing factors. Results The influencing factors of psychological QOL included radiotherapy stage, radiation course and concomitant chronic disease. NPC patients had higher psychological domain QOL whose survival greater than five years, had a completed course of radiation, and without other diseases (P ＜0.05).The influencing factors of social QOL included radiotherapy stage and treatment method (P＜ 0.05). The influencing factors of side-effect QOL included radiotherapy stage(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The NPC tumor-free survivors who survival longer, have more course of radiation and with chronic diseases should be pay more attention.Prevention interventions should be preformed to reduce radiation injury to patients; side effects,and improve QOL of NPC tumor-free patients.

Objective To evaluate the effects of acupuncture combined with relaxation training on the pain,anxiety and sleep quality in advanced cancer patients.Methods Seventy-one advanced cancer patients with different severity of pain were included in this study and divided into an experimental group and a control group.Besides treatment of analgesic,patients in experimental group were additionally given treatment of acupuncture and relaxation training,while those in control group were only given analgesic.All subjects were evaluated with questionnaires of Pain Inventory,Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS),Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy(FACT-G)before and after treatment.Results Total rate of pain relief in the experimental group was 90.63%,which was significantly lower than that in the control group(84.62%)(P＜0.05),showing that acupuncture combined with relaxation training was more effective for pain relief than analgesic therapy in cancer patients.The scores of sleep indexes and anxiety of PSQI and SAS in experimental group were significantly better than those in control group(P＜0.01).There was no significant difference in the scores of quality of life(QOL)between the two groups.Conclusion Acupuncture combined with relaxation training was more effective for relief of pain and anxiety,and for improvement of sleep quality than analgesic therapy in cancer patients.But short-term intervention had no effect on QOL in advanced cancer patients.

Objective To assess the psychological characteristics of EORTC QLQ-H&N35 scale,and to explore whether QLQ-H&N35 scale is suitable to measure the qulity of life (QOL) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.Methods The data of 391 NPC patients from Cancer Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University was collected.Split-half reliability,Cronbach's α coefficient,content validity,construct validity,discriminant validity,and feasibility of QLQ-H&N35 were performed.Person separation index (PSI),the order of item threshold,and differential item functioning were analyzed.Results Cronbach'sα coefficient and split-half reliability of QLQ-H&N35 were higher than 0.7,except for sense parameter.All Test-retest coefficients of QLQ-H&N35 were higher than 0.7.The result of factor analysis showed that the data was consistent with the theoretical model.Most of the domain scores and dimension scores of patients with different radiotherapy stages were significantly different (P ＜ 0.05).PSI of the model was 0.90.Most of the order of item threshold were normal.All the items had no uniform or non-uniform DIF among different genders and age groups.Conclusion QLQ-H&N35 scale is a reliable,operable,and valid disease-specific scale for the evaluation QOL in NPC patients.

Objective To introduce a new way to solve the problem of field-field junction in the traditional radiotherapy of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma better.Methods Using the 3-dimentional planning system,the dose distribution of traditional radiotherapy and the electronic beam irradiation technology of L shape field for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 2D-or 3D-CRT could be gotten.Results The dose coverage of V95 of the gross tumor volume(GTV)satisfied the clinical requirements.The highest dose in the electronic beam irradiation of L shape field was 7200 cGy,while it was 8900 cGy in the traditional way.The volume of dose that over 6500 cGy of throat was 19.64 ％ in the former,the latter was 31.95 ％.Conclusion The electronic beam irradiation technology of L shape field is better than the traditional radiotherapy in field-field junction and in dose distribution.Since that,the electronic beam irradiation technology of L shape field is worth of application for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma on visual evoked potential (VEP).

METHODSVEP of 63 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were tested before, at the end of, half a year, one year, 2 years and 3 years after their radiotherapy.

RESULTSWithin the male group, one year after radiotherapy, the latency of VEP was significantly delayed than that before and at the end of radiotherapy, while the amplitude was decreased significantly. Two years after radiotherapy, the latency of VEP was significantly delayed more than that before radiotherapy. However there was no significant difference among VEP at the end of, half a year and 3 years after radiotherapy. Within the female group, 2 years after radiotherapy, the latency of VEP was significantly delayed than that before radiotherapy. Three years after radiotherapy, the latency of VEP was significantly delayed than that before, at the end of, half a year and one year after radiotherapy. There was no significant difference in VEP amplitudes before and after radiotherapy.

CONCLUSIONWithin the male group, the abnormal delay of VEP latency mostly happens one or two years after radiotherapy. Within the female group, the significant delay of VEP latency happens at the end of radiotherapy and lasts for 3 years, while the VEP amplitude does not change significantly during the 3 years after radiotherapy. The result indicates that the sustained radiation damage within the female visual nerve system starts at the end of radiotherapy, but to a lesser degree. It was shown that radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma certainly damages the visual nerve system, though there is sex difference in the impairment.

Adult ; Evoked Potentials, Visual ; radiation effects ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; radiotherapy ; Sex Factors ; Time Factors