Surgical Treatment of the Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology 1996;12(1):92-99.
Published online June 30, 1996.

Won Sang Lee;Young Myoung Chun;Heung Seek Choi

비인강암의 수술적 치료

이원상;전영명;최흥식

Abstract

The primary treatment of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma is at this time, mainly based on radiotherapy. In most studies for patient treated with radiotherapy, overall 5-year survival rate is in the range of 35 to 55%. Obviously, these therapeutic results may be influenced by various factors such as clinical stages, histopathological types and radiation techniques, etc. Though the radiotherapy had a good therapeutic result, there is a limitation to apply the radiotherapy only in cases of the advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Anatomical complexity of the skull base and difficulties in complete surgical intervention were the trouble of the surgery but in the case of radiation failure, there is no adequate choice of other curative modalities. So it is appropriate to investigate whether surgical resection may improve the outcome of treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The purpose of this papaer is to report our surgical experience of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma, then to take into consideration of the new model of treatment strategy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Key Words: Infratemporal fossa approach, Facial translocation approach, Maxillary swing approach, Nasopharyngeal carcinoma