By means of measurement over a period of time, it was found that patients with nasopharyngeal cancer had a mean decrease in initial interincisal distance of 32% at 4 years after radiotherapy. The trismus process evolved at different rates. It was rapid at 1 to 9 months after radiation therapy, then became slower and protracted over later years.

No abstract

Margin status and histologic property both affect the prognosis of MFS. The former correlates with improved LRFS and translates into final survival benefits.

BACKGROUND.It was reported previously that the dosimetric superiority of conformal radiotherapy (RT), either 3‐dimensional conformal RT (3D‐CRT) or intensity‐modulated RT (IMRT), over conventional 2D‐RT translated into clinical benefits for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In this study, the authors compared quality‐of‐life (QOL) outcomes of NPC survivors who received treatment with 1 of 4 different RT techniques at a single institute during different periods.METHODS.The authors analyzed QOL data of from 237 patients with NPC who were cancer free for 2 or 3 years when their QOL was assessed. The study population included 152 patients who received conventional RT (2D‐RT, 61 patients; 2D‐RT plus 3D‐CRT boost, 91 patients) and 85 patients who received conformal RT (3D‐CRT, 33 patients; IMRT, 52 patients). The European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Core QOL questionnaire and the EORTC Head and Neck QOL questionnaire were completed.RESULTS.Compared with patients who received with conventional RT, patients who received conformal RT had both statistically (P < .05) and clinically (a difference in mean scores ≥10 points) significant improvements in the scales of global QOL, pain, appetite loss, senses, speech, social eating, teeth, opening mouth, xerostomia, sticky saliva, and feeling ill. No significant difference was observed in any of the scales that compared 2D‐RT with 2D‐RT plus 3D‐CRT boost or that compared 3D‐CRT with IMRT. Survivors who received conformal RT had a 2.01‐fold higher probability (odds ratio [OR], 2.01; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.19–3.68) of reporting good global QOL and a 2.70‐fold lower probability (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.20–0.66) of reporting a high level of xerostomia than survivors who received conventional RT.CONCLUSIONS.Conformal RT substantially improved head and neck‐related symptoms and broad aspects of QOL for survivors of NPC. Cancer 2007. © 2006 American Cancer Society.