F. Elloumi

Résultats thérapeutiques du cancer du cavum : y a-t-il une différence entre enfants et adultes ?

PURPOSE To compare therapeutic results of nasopharyngeal carcinoma between adults and children. PATIENTS AND METHODS Three hundred and seventy seven patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma received a radiotherapy between 1993 and 2007. Sixty-nine of them were 20years old or less. Two hundred and sixty eight patients received a chemotherapy (neoadjuvant or concomitant). RESULTS Overall survival and disease-free survival at 5 years were 67 % and 59.4 % in all patients, respectively. Overall survival rates at 5 years in children and adults were 66 % and 64 %, respectively (P=0.17), disease-free survival rates at 5 years were 66 % and 57 %, respectively (P=0.17). Local failures occurred more frequently in adults than in children (1.4 % versus 14 %). However, metastatic events were frequently seen in children. Late toxicities were important in children, xerostomia was the most common one. CONCLUSION Despite locally advanced disease in children, therapeutic results were better than in adults but not statistically significant. The use of treatment combination (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) in juvenile nasopharyngeal carcinoma may explain our findings.