Objective: To study the death causes in 677 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
Method: The clinical data of 677 death cases with NPC hospitalized in our department from 1974 to 1990 were analysed.
Result: In our data, the ratio of male to female was 4.3:1. The main age stage was from forty to sixty. The pathological type was mostly poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The cases with stage III-IV disease were account for 81.3%. The patients treated by radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy survived longer than those treated by radiotherapy alone (P < 0.05). The majority of the patients died of distal metastasis (372, 54.9%) and local-regional lymph node uncontrolled (142, 20.9%) after treatment.
Conclusion: The main death causes of the patients with NPC in our investigation were distal metastasis and local-regional recurrence. The treatment of radiotherapy plus chemotherapy probably increases survival time and reduces the death rate in patients with NPC.