[Salvage surgery for cervical metastasis from nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy]

One hundred and forty patients who had residual or recurrent lymph node metastasis from nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy underwent salvage surgery. The overall 3 and 5 year survival rates were 50.1% and 27.3%, the 3 and 5 year local control rates were 48.3% and 27.3%, the 3 and 5 years distant-metastasis-free rates were 44.5% and 25.6% respectively. The most significant factors influencing survival and local control rates were the size and the involvement of the capsule of the lymph nodes. The size of the lymph node was the only influencing fastor for distant-metastasis-free survival. Distant metastasis was the most frequent factor of treatment failure (48.9%) followed by recurrence of neck mass (14.4%). The authors considered that the salvage surgery is an effective method in improving the survival rate. The reradiotherapy after surgery or/ and adjuvant chemotherapy is a new area for further investigation.