Indications for radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma includes radical radiotherapy and palliative radiotherapy. The main purpose of radical radiotherapy is to eliminate the tumor as much as possible, and the radiotherapy dose is generally 60-70Gy of high-energy radiation. The main purpose of palliative radiotherapy is to relieve the patient's pain and prolong the patient's life. The total radiotherapy dose depends on the patient's actual situation, and is generally about 1/2 to 1/3 of the radical dose.

Indications for radical radiotherapy

1. The patient's overall health condition is above average.

2. Check the patient's pathological type and whether it is sensitive to radiation.

3. CT scan of the patient showed no obvious or mild destruction of the skull base bone.

4. The patient underwent CT or MRI examination, which showed no or only mild invasion of the nasopharynx.

5. The maximum diameter of the patient's cervical lymph node metastasis is less than 8 cm and is mobile, but has not reached the level of the supraclavicular fossa.

6. The cancer cells have no other distant metastasis to the lungs, liver, bones, etc.

Indications for palliative radiotherapy

1. The patient's general health is moderate.

2. Check the patient's pathological type, which should be sensitive to radiation.

3. The patient has extensive bone destruction at the skull base and multiple pairs of cranial nerves are damaged.

4. CT or MRI examination of the patient showed that a large area of ​​the nasopharynx was invaded.

5. The maximum diameter of the patient's cervical lymph node metastasis is greater than 8 cm, fixed, or reaches the level of the supraclavicular fossa.

6. Cancer cells have distant metastasis, but the lesions are relatively localized.