Alternative endpoints to the 5‑year overall survival and locoregional control for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: 
A retrospective analysis of 2,450 patients

Chen,Chen; Yi,Wei; Gao,Jin; Li,Xiao‑Hui; Shen,Lu‑Jun; Li,Bo‑Fei; Tu,Zi‑Wei; Tao,Ya‑Lan; Jiang,Chang‑Bin; Xia,Yun‑Fei

doi:10.3892/mco.2014.262

Alternative endpoints to the 5‑year overall survival and locoregional control for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A retrospective analysis of 2,450 patients

Authors:
- Chen Chen
- Wei Yi
- Jin Gao
- Xiao‑Hui Li
- Lu‑Jun Shen
- Bo‑Fei Li
- Zi‑Wei Tu
- Ya‑Lan Tao
- Chang‑Bin Jiang
- Yun‑Fei Xia
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Affiliations: Department of Radiation Oncology, Sun Yat‑Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China, Department of Radiation Oncology, Anhui Provincial Hospital, Hefei, Anhui, P.R. China
Published online on: February 20, 2014 https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2014.262
Pages: 385-392

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Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate alternative endpoints to the 5‑year overall survival (OS) and locoregional control (LRC) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). A total of 2,450 NPC patients were enrolled in this study, including 1,842 patients treated with two‑dimensional (2D) radiotherapy (RT), 451 treated with 3D conformal RT (CRT) and 157 treated with intensity‑modulated RT (IMRT). We sequentially calculated the 1‑, 2‑, 3‑ and 4‑year survival rates using a life table and compared these with the 5‑year survival rate using the McNemar method, with the survival rate of the last indifferent comparison being considered as the alternative endpoint. For 2D RT, stage I patients exhibited similar survival rates at 1 and 5 years (98.9 vs. 94.4%, respectively; P=0.125 for both OS and LRC); stage N3 patients exhibited similar 4‑year OS (55.2 vs. 53.5%; P=1.000) and 2‑year LRC (78.3 vs. 71.2%; P=0.125) to the 5‑year OS and LRC. For IMRT, the 1‑, 2‑, 3‑, 4‑ and 5‑year OS and LRC rates in stage I/II NPC patients were 100, 98, 96, 94 and 94% for OS and 100, 98, 96, 96 and 96% for LRC, respectively. No significant differences were observed for all the comparisons. For stage III/IV NPC patients treated with IMRT, the 1‑, 2‑, 3‑, 4‑ and 5‑year rates were 99.1, 96.3, 92.5, 88.8 and 85.0% for OS and 98.1, 97.2, 95.3, 90.7 and 89.7% for LRC, respectively. Only the 4‑year OS and LRC rates were indifferent from those at 5 years (P=0.125 for OS and P=1.00 for LRC). In conclusion, the 1‑year OS and LRC for stage I NPC patients treated with 2D RT or stage I̸II NPC patients treated with IMRT, the 4‑year OS and 2‑year LRC for stage N3 NPC patients treated with 2D RT and the 4‑year OS and LRC for stage III/IV NPC patients treated with IMRT were determined as the alternative endpoints to the 5‑year OS and LRC for NPC patients.

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