Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of 583 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients
| Variables | N0 (n = 89, 15.3%) | N + patients (n = 494, 84.7%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-rCAI (n = 285, 57.7%) | rCAI (n = 209, 42.3%) | P | ||
| Gender | 0.007 | |||
| Male | 68 (76.4) | 192 (67.4) | 164 (78.5) | |
| Female | 21 (23.6) | 93 (32.6) | 45 (21.5) | |
| Age | 0.911 | |||
| ≤ 47 years | 45 (50.6) | 146 (51.2) | 106 (50.7) | |
| > 47 years | 44 (49.4) | 139 (48.8) | 103 (49.3) | |
| Histologic type | 0.646 | |||
| KSCC | 0 | 1 (0.4) | 2 (1.0) | |
| NKDC | 1 (1.1) | 13 (4.6) | 11 (5.3) | |
| NKUC | 88 (98.9) | 271 (95.0) | 196 (93.7) | |
| T stage | 0.701 | |||
| T1 | 7 (7.9) | 20 (7.0) | 16 (7.7) | |
| T2 | 27 (30.3) | 70 (24.5) | 56 (26.7) | |
| T3 | 38 (42.7) | 131 (46.0) | 99 (47.4) | |
| T4 | 17 (19.1) | 64 (22.5) | 38 (18.2) | |
| N stage | < 0.001 | |||
| N0 | 89 (100) | |||
| N1 | 156 (54.7) | 44 (21.1) | ||
| N2 | 107 (37.5) | 76 (36.4) | ||
| N3 | 22 (7.8) | 89 (42.5) | ||
| Total stage | < 0.001 | |||
| I | 7 (7.9) | |||
| II | 27 (30.3) | 42 (14.7) | 8 (3.8) | |
| III | 38 (42.7) | 162 (56.8) | 87 (41.6) | |
| IV | 17 (19.1) | 81 (28.5) | 114 (54.5) | |
| Chemotherapy | 0.001 | |||
| RT alone | 10 (11.2) | |||
| CCRT alone | 32 (36.0) | 44 (15.4) | 12 (5.7) | |
| CCRT + NAC/AC | 47 (52.8) | 241 (84.6) | 197 (94.3) | |
| Laterality of cervical positive LNs | < 0.001 | |||
| RLNs only | - | 59 (20.7) | 0 (0) | |
| Unilateral | - | 100 (35.1) | 74 (35.4) | |
| Bilateral | - | 126 (44.2) | 135 (64.6) | |
| Location of positive LNs | < 0.001 | |||
| Upper neck only | - | 265 (93.0) | 143 (68.4) | |
| Upper + lower neck | - | 20 (7.0) | 66 (31.6) | |
| Size of positive LNs | < 0.001 | |||
| ≤ 6 cm | - | 279 (97.9) | 156 (74.6) | |
| > 6 cm | - | 6 (2.1) | 53 (25.4) | |
| CNN | < 0.001 | |||
| No | - | 236 (82.8) | 87 (41.6) | |
| Yes | - | 49 (17.2) | 122 (58.4) | |
| rENE | < 0.001 | |||
| No | - | 157 (55.1) | 4 (1.9) | |
| Yes | - | 128 (44.9) | 205 (98.1) | |
Abbreviations: rCAI radiological carotid artery invasion, KSCC keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma, NKDC non-keratinizing differentiated carcinoma, NKUC non-keratinizing undifferentiated carcinoma, RT radiotherapy, CCRT concurrent chemoradiotherapy, NAC neoadjuvant chemotherapy, AC adjuvant chemotherapy, LN lymph node, RLN retropharyngeal lymph node, CNN cervical node necrosis, rENE radiological extranodal extension