OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic nasopharyngectomy in the management of recurrent nasopharyngeal cancers (NPC) and to identify the prognostic factors.

METHODSBetween January 2006 and March 2014, 71 patients who received endoscopic nasopharyngectomy for recurrent NPC were retrospectively reviewed. The sex and the age of the patients, T stage, and tumor necrosis were recorded. Correlation between clinicopathological features and survival time was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the disease overall survival, disease-specific survival, and disease-free survival rates. Cox multivariate regression analysis and ROC curve analysis were used to determine the predictive value of the parameters.

RESULTSThe median age of 71 patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma was 51.0 years old. Male to female ratio was 2.9:1 (male: 53, female: 18). The lesions were staged as follows (AJCC, 2010, seventh edition): rT1, 27; rT2, 10; rT3, 19 and rT4, 15. All patients underwent successful endoscopic nasopharyngectomy. No patient was transferred to open approach. The mean operative time was 155 minutes. The average blood loss was 450 ml. Three patients needed intraoperative blood transfusion. No serious postoperative complications occurred. Postoperative follow-up time was 5-96 months. During follow-up, 48 cases survived, including that 7 patients survived with disease, 1 patient had pulmonary metastases, and 1 case had cervical lymph node metastasis. Two-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 74.0% and 60.5%, respectively. Five-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 39.0% and 31.9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor necrosis was an independent prognostic factor for survival in recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (P=0.001).

CONCLUSIONEndoscopic nasopharyngectomy is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Carcinoma ; Disease-Free Survival ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; diagnosis ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasm Staging ; Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate