Staging of T2 and T3 nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Proposed modifications for improving the current AJCC staging system.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We aimed to reconstitute T2 and T3 stage classification in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cases and verify its utility in clinical settings.

Materials and methods

We enrolled 792 NPC patients. Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the effect sizes (hazard ratio [HR]) of the cranial structure invasion on survival and select the structures for up-staging or downstaging T2 and T3 NPC. The samples were reclassified and the survival curves for T2 and T3 stages were analyzed. The proposed new staging system was validated on an external sample (n = 433).

Results

Thirteen cranial structures were examined. American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) T3 stage patients with the invasion of the base of the sphenoid (HR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.16-5.77) or base of

SUBMITTER: Cui C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7571804 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature