Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
- Study type
- Review article
- Design
- Review article (Seminar)
- Source
- The Lancet · 2019
In plain words
Nasopharyngeal cancer (cancer of the upper part of the throat, behind the nose) is more common in East and South-East Asia. In recent years it has become less common, and with better methods of diagnosis and treatment, deaths from it have fallen markedly. A blood test for Epstein–Barr virus DNA can help with screening, predicting how the disease will behave and monitoring treatment. Immunotherapy has also shown promising results for disease that has come back or spread.
Clinical significance and place in guidelines
This review summarises recent advances: the use of plasma EBV DNA in screening, prognosis, prediction of treatment response and disease monitoring; the widespread use of IMRT and optimisation of chemotherapy (induction, concurrent, adjuvant), with improved survival and fewer adverse effects; and progress with immunotherapy in recurrent or metastatic disease. The abstract gives no specific clinical recommendation or level of evidence; the status of clinical guidelines should be checked separately.
Limitations
This is a narrative review and its abstract does not report the literature search method, study selection criteria or quantitative data. Further details are available in the full text of the paper.
This summary was prepared by the editorial team from the published paper; the original paper is the final reference. Read the original abstract on PubMed.