Grading of MRI-detected skull-base invasion in nasopharyngeal carcinoma with skull-base invasion after intensity-modulated radiotherapy

• Published in: Radiation oncology (London, England) Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 10
• Main Authors: Feng, Yanru, Cao, Caineng, Hu, Qiaoying, Chen, Xiaozhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 17.01.2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: American joint committee on Cancer staging system; Cancer; Cancer metastasis; Cancer staging; Cancer therapies; Carcinoma; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; Classification; Committees; Diagnosis; Diagnostic imaging; Evaluation; Intensity-modulated radiotherapy; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Metastases; Metastasis; Multivariate analysis; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Operating systems (Software); Patients; Prognostic value; Radiation therapy; Radiotherapy; Skull; Skull-base invasion; Statistical analysis; Survival; Throat cancer; China; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Prognostic value; Skull-base invasion; American joint committee on Cancer staging system; Intensity-modulated radiotherapy
• ISSN: 1748-717X; 1748-717X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13014-019-1214-3

The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of grading MRI-detected skull-base invasion in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with skull-base invasion after intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). This study is a retrospective chart review of 469 non-metastatic NPC patients with skull-base invasion. Patients were classified as extensive skull-base invasion (ESBI) group and limited skull-base invasion (LSBI) group. Multivariate analysis showed that the skull-base invasion (LSBI vs. ESBI) was an independent prognostic predictor of progression free survival (PFS). The estimated 5-year local failure free survival (LFFS), distant metastasis free survival (DMFS), PFS, and overall survival (OS) rates for patients in the T3-LSBI and T3-ESBI group were 92.9% versus 93.5, 89.8% versus 86.1, 81.6% versus 76.4, and 93.5% versus 86.3%, respectively (P > 0.05). Grading of MRI-detected skull-base invasion is an independent prognostic factor of NPC with skull-base invasion. It is scientific and reasonable for skull-base invasion as a single entity to be classified as T3 classification.