Salvage Endoscopic Nasopharyngectomy for Recurrent Nasopharyngeal Cancer: an Institutional Experience

This study aims to present the surgical and oncological long-term outcomes of patients with locally recurrent nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) following endoscopic endonasal nasopharyngectomy (EEN).

The medical records of 11 patients who underwent EEN due to recurrent NPC were retrospectively reviewed.

The mean age of the patient cohort, consisting of 10 males (90.9%) and one female (9.1%), was 44±13.01 years at the time of initial diagnosis. Seven patients (63.7%) had local recurrence, and four patients (36.3%) had loco-regional recurrence. The mean time to first recurrence from the initial diagnosis was 40.3 months, with a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of 72.7% and a disease-free survival (DFS) rate of 27.3%. There were no significant differences between the concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and induction chemotherapy+concurrent CRT treatment groups in terms of DFS and OS as a first-line treatment (p=0.645).

EEN is a viable alternative approach for selected cases of locally recurrent NPC, considering the morbidities associated with re-irradiation.