Table 1.
Clinical and treatment characteristics of patients with ascending type, descending type, and mixed type nasopharyngeal carcinoma at baseline.
| Characteristic | Ascending type NPC (T3–4N0–1, n = 4023, %) | Descending type NPC (T1–2N2–3, n = 890, %) | Mixed type NPC (T3–4N2–3, n = 2314, %) | p value† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 0.188 | |||
| <45 | 1929 (47.9) | 449 (50.4) | 1156 (50.0) | |
| ⩾45 | 2094 (52.1) | 441 (49.6) | 1158 (50.0) | |
| Sex | 0.025 | |||
| Male | 2927 (72.8) | 675 (75.8) | 1746 (75.5) | |
| Female | 1096 (27.2) | 215 (24.2) | 568 (24.5) | |
| WHO histological type | 0.778 | |||
| Differentiated | 102 (2.5) | 19 (2.1) | 56 (2.4) | |
| Undifferentiated | 3921 (97.5) | 871 (97.9) | 2258 (97.6) | |
| T classification* | <0.001 | |||
| T1 | 0 (0.0) | 365 (40.9) | 0 (0.0) | |
| T2 | 0 (0.0) | 526 (59.1) | 0 (0.0) | |
| T3 | 2776 (69.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1603 (69.3) | |
| T4 | 1247 (31.0) | 0 (0.0) | 711 (30.7) | |
| N classification* | <0.001 | |||
| N0 | 705 (17.5) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | |
| N1 | 3318 (82.5) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | |
| N2 | 0 (0.0) | 530 (59.6) | 1505 (65.1) | |
| N3 | 0 (0.0) | 360 (40.4) | 807 (34.9) | |
| Overall Stage* | <0.001 | |||
| III | 2777 (69.0) | 530 (59.6) | 1024 (44.3) | |
| IV | 1246 (31.0) | 360 (40.4) | 1290 (55.7) | |
| Cigarette consumption | 0.001 | |||
| No | 2626 (65.3) | 548 (61.6) | 1403 (60.6) | |
| Yes | 1397 (34.7) | 342 (38.4) | 911 (39.4) | |
| Alcohol consumption | <0.001 | |||
| No | 3504 (87.1) | 727 (81.7) | 1970 (85.1) | |
| Yes | 519 (12.9) | 163 (18.3) | 344 (14.9) | |
| Family of cancer history | 0.068 | |||
| No | 2951 (73.4) | 682 (76.6) | 1740 (75.2) | |
| Yes | 1072 (26.6) | 208 (23.4) | 574 (24.8) | |
| Pre-treatment cf EBV DNA load, copy/ml | <0.001 | |||
| <4000 | 2455 (61.0) | 412 (46.3) | 826 (35.7) | |
| ⩾4000 | 1568 (39.0) | 478 (53.7) | 1488 (64.3) | |
| HGB (g/l) | 0.058 | |||
| <120 | 271 (6.7) | 60 (6.7) | 192 (8.3) | |
| ⩾120 | 3752 (93.3) | 830 (93.3) | 2122 (91.7) | |
| LDH (U/l) | <0.001 | |||
| <245 | 3805 (94.6) | 812 (91.2) | 2048 (88.5) | |
| ⩾245 | 218 (5.4) | 78 (8.8) | 266 (11.5) | |
| ALB (g/l) | 0.002 | |||
| <40 | 358 (8.9) | 80 (9.0) | 267 (11.5) | |
| ⩾40 | 3665 (91.1) | 810 (91.0) | 2047 (88.5) | |
| CRP (mg/l) | <0.001 | |||
| <1.0 | 1222 (30.4) | 296 (33.3) | 557 (24.1) | |
| 1.0–3.0 | 1544 (38.4) | 333 (37.4) | 840 (36.3) | |
| ⩾3.0 | 1257 (31.2) | 261 (29.3) | 917 (39.6) | |
| Treatment modality | <0.001 | |||
| IMRT alone | 202 (5.0) | 21 (2.4) | 62 (2.7) | |
| NACT+IMRT alone | 339 (8.4) | 89 (10.0) | 219 (9.5) | |
| CCRT | 1670 (41.5) | 315 (35.4) | 583 (25.2) | |
| NACT+CCRT | 1628 (40.5) | 417 (46.9) | 1313 (56.7) | |
| CCRT+ACT | 184 (4.6) | 48 (5.4) | 137 (5.9) |
Ascending type NPC: patients with stage T3–4N0–1 NPC; Descending type NPC: patients with stage T1–2N2–3 NPC; Mixed type NPC: patients with stage T3–4N2–3 NPC; Statistical comparisons between three types NPC were computed using the Chi-square test.
According to the 8th edition of the AJCC/UICC staging system.
Clinicopathologic and treatment characteristics were compared using the χ2 test, or Fisher’s exact test, a p-value of 0.05 indicates a significant difference.
ACT, adjuvant chemotherapy; ALB, albumin; CCRT, concurrent chemoradiotherapy; cf EBV DNA, circulating cell-free Epstein-Barr virus deoxyribonucleic acid; CRP, C-reactive protein; HGB, hemoglobin; IMRT, intensity modulated radiation therapy; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; NACT, neoadjuvant chemotherapy; WHO, World Health Organization.