[Radiotherapy of 100 cancers of the cavum]

A retrospective study of 100 nasopharyngeal cancers treated between 1977 and 1991 was carried out. There were 22% T1, 18% T2, 15% T3 and 45% T4 with 31% N0, 20% N1, 36% N2 and 13% N3. Large adenopathies N2c + N3 were twice as frequent in the T1 group than in the T2, T3 and T4 groups. There were 59% UCNT (undifferentiated carcinoma of nasopharyngeal) and 41% epidermoid carcinomas. External beam therapy has been classical with 5 fractions of 1.8 Gy per week and a total dose of 75 Gy to the tumor and palpable nodes. A chemotherapy was carried out before locoregional treatment in 53%. Overall survival was 42% at 5 years and 39% at 10 years with a plateau from 4 years (45%). The major prognostic factor was T4 which gives 21% only at 5 years. The N has nearly no prognostic influence. UCNT have better survival (50% at 5 year) than epidermoid carcinomas (36%). There were more deaths by metastatic evolution with UCNT (46.5% against 17%) and much more deaths by locoregional evolution with epidermoid carcinomas (29% against 12%). Relapses were in the first 3 years in 90%. For 22 isolated local relapses 11 were treated with curative intent (5 brachytherapies and 6 new external beam radiotherapies): 6 were without cancer evolution in the observation times.