Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an evaluation of 134 patients treated between 1971-1980

An analysis is made of 134 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated from 1971-1980 at the Cancer Control Agency of British Columbia. Incidence rate for Chinese born in the Orient was 20.5 per 100,000 per year compared to 1.32 per 100,000 for Canadian born Chinese. The Caucasian rate was .19 per 100,000 per year. These figures confirm a 15 times greater incidence of the disease in Chinese born in the Orient over those born in North America. The 86 Chinese patients were noted to have a 10% poorer survival than the 48 Caucasian patients on long-term follow-up. The main factor affecting survival was initial staging. Overall survival rates were 46.3% three year, no evidence of disease (NED) and 38.3% five year NED survival, but when disease was limited to the nasopharynx (T1, T2, N0) they were 73.9% three year NED and 66.6% five year NED survival. One-third of the patients ultimately developed distant metastases below the clavicle. Although lower T and N stage cases had fewer of these, the overall correlation with staging was poor. Female patients showed statistically significant better survival which was not related to better initial staging. They did, however, have 11% fewer eventual distant metastases.