A team of researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in southern China’s Guangdong Province has finally come up with an innovative treatment strategy for nasopharyngeal cancer that can help reduce the negative effects of radiation therapy.
Scientists from the university’s cancer center conducted a phase III clinical trial, the results of which showed that the retropharyngeal lymph node region that avoids radiotherapy, compared to standard radiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, guarantees survival without regional relapse, reports Al-Rai daily quoting Chinese news agency Xinhua.
The innovative radiotherapy technique, which involves excluding the medial retropharyngeal lymph node region from the elective radiation volume, can reduce the incidence of toxic side effects by 10 percent when compared to standard radiotherapy, ultimately improving the quality of life for patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. These side effects include severe mucositis, severe dysphagia, weight loss, and advanced dysphagia.
The retropharyngeal lymph node is the first stage of metastasis (the stage of transmission of cancer cells from one organ to another) in the neck of nasopharyngeal cancer, where the rate of metastasis reached 70 to 80 percent during the initial diagnosis.
However, the research team led by Professor Ma Jun found that metastases in the medial retropharyngeal lymph node region are rare, with an incidence rate of less than 1 percent.
The results of the research were published online in the British Medical Journal on February 6.