Accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy for small cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx

Abstract

The administration of prophylactic cranial irradiation may be considered for nasopharyngeal small cell carcinoma.

Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: A Rare Nasopharyngeal Malignancy with Aggressive Clinical Course

“…Surgery followed by chemo-radiotherapy achieved a better response than chemo-radiotherapy alone [19]. Initial complete response to chemo-radiation, however, has been reported to be followed by development of distant metastasis [18].…”

“…Owing to the scarcity of reported cases, no definite treatment protocols exist for nasopharyngeal SmNEC at present. Due to their aggressiveness, most patients require a combination of therapeutic modalities [18]. Surgery followed by chemo-radiotherapy achieved a better response than chemo-radiotherapy alone [19].…”

Small-Cell Carcinoma of Nasopharynx: A Case Report of Unusual Localization

“…5,7,[11][12][13][14]16,19,20,22,24 Proper diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols need to be established to detect cases at an early stage and for an appropriate management, in order to limit morbidity and mortality. 5,18,21,25…”

“…We present the case of a nasopharyngeal small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, which, as far as we know, is the 16th case reported in literature. 5,7,11,13,16,[18][19][20][21][23][24][25][26]…”

Simultaneous integrated prophylactic cranial irradiation in sino-nasal cancer

“…For small cell lung cancer (SCLC) the addition of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) to the treatment leads to both a significant risk reduction of brain metastases and prolonged survival [3] . The risk of haematogenous metastases from small cell head and neck cancer is lower than that of SCLC, yet still significant, and PCI has been recommended for selected cases of small cell head and neck cancer [2] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] . Adding PCI after radiotherapy for sinonasal cancer is sub-optimal from a dosimetric point of view, as some areas of the brain already received a radiation dose from the primary tumour irradiation, that may cause late side effects, and probably has a low effect on tumour cells, as the dose per fraction is very low.…”