An additional blood test at 2-3 months after RT is a valuable biomarker in predicting treatment outcome for NPC patients. Patients with persistently detectable EBV DNA during re-staging survey 2-3 months after RT should strengthen adjuvant therapy due to very high subsequent relapse rate and poor survivals.
One week post-radiation therapy (RT) blood test showing persistently detectable EBV DNA is a very poor prognostic factor for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. We hypothesize that additional EBV DNA confirmation test could enhance diagnostic sensitivity of relapse detection and predict survivals. We screened 706 newly diagnosed NPC patients who finished curative RT with or without chemotherapy from March 2001 to December 2012. Additional EBV DNA blood test was performed at re-staging survey 2-3 months after RT. The association between treatment outcome (tumor relapse and patients' survival) and this additional blood test along with various clinical parameters were analyzed.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
706
relapse-free survival (RFS)
From the end of treatment to clinical or pathological proven disease relapse
Time frame: 5 years
Overall survival (OS)
Overall survival was calculated from the day of enrollment until death or the last follow-up visit
Time frame: 5 years
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