Table 2.
Summary of the studies reporting on non-solitary (or not specified) splenic metastases from NPC
| Year | First author | Type of study | Number and type of patients considered | Patients with splenic metastases from NPC | Methods of detection | Surgery performed | Confirmatory histology of NPC splenic metastases | Relapse and survival rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Abrams et al. [5] | CS | 1000 patients with splenic metastases from carcinomas | 3 (0.3 %) | Autopsy | NS | NS | NS |
| 1989 | Siniluoto et al. [37] | CS | 31 patients with splenic metastases | 1 (3.2 %) | US | NS | NS | NS |
| 2000 | Wan et al. [39] | CS | 53 patients with focal splenic lesions | 2 (3.7 %) | US | NS | NS | NS |
| 2000 | Lam & Tang [3] | CS | 92 patients with splenic metastases | 4 (4.3 %) | NS | NS | UCNT | NS |
| 2001 | Gacani et al. [30] | CS | 65 patients with NPC and DM | 1 (1.5 %) | US | NS | NS | DM within 24 months after therapy |
| 2004 | Cho et al. [29] | CS | 31 patients with recurrent type 2 NPC | 1 (3.2 %) | NS | NS | NS | NS |
| 2010 | Radhakrishnan et al. [36] | CR | 1 pediatric patient with UCNT | 1 | FDG-PET/CT | NS | NS | Death after 90 days of chemotherapy |
| 2010 | Ng et al. [35] | CS | 179 NPC patients at high risk of residual disease or with suspected recurrence | 1 (0.5 %) | WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT | NS | NS | NS |
| 2011 | Gatenby et al. [31] | CS | 21 patients undergone splenectomies for DM | 1 (4.7 %) | NS | Primary tumor, radical neck dissection and synchronous splenectomy | SCC | DFS: 1 year 10 month OS: 2 years 3 months |
| 2013 | Hsieh et al. [32] | CS | 22 patients with non-keratinizing or undifferentiated NPC | 1 (4.6 %) | US, CT or MRI | NS | NS | Median time to PD: 10 months; Median OS: 16 months |
| 2015 | Mak et al. [34] | CS | 558 patients with NPC | 1 (0.2 %) | CT and PET/CT | NS | NS | 10.8–18.4 months before DF; Mean DSS in patients with DM: 31.2 months (95 % CI 20.9–41.6) Mean OS in patients with DM: 28.2 months (95 % CI 19.3–37.1) |
| 2015 | Ma et al. [33] | CS | 2 pediatric patients with NPC | 1 | FDG-PET/CT | NS | NS | NS |
| 2015 | Al Tamimi et al. [28] | CS | 352 patients with NPC and DM | 4 (1.1 %) | FDG-PET/CT | NS | NS | NS |
CR case report, CS case series, NPC nasopharyngeal carcinoma, UCNT undifferentiated carcinoma of the nasopharyngeal type, SCC squamous cell carcinoma, DM distant metastases, NS not specified, CT computed tomography, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, PET positron emission tomography, US ultrasounds, FNA fine-needle aspiration, DF distant failure, DFS disease-free survival, DSS disease-specific survival, OS overall survival, PD progressive disease