Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A 15 Year Study with Respect to Clinicodemography and Survival Analysis

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy in Kashmir with distinct pattern, hence we planned to study its clinicodemographic and survival profile. Kashmir has unique lifestyle and dietary habits which may be the source of carcinogenic compounds, most likely implicated in causation of NPC. A total of 148 patients of NPC registered from January 2000 to December 2014 were analyzed. The Mean ± SD age was 45.15 ± 17.092 years (range 11–85 years). The males were 72.3 % (N = 107) with male: female ratio of 2.61:1. Most of the patients were from rural area 81.90 % (N = 95) and non-smokers were 53.44 % (N = 62). Neck swelling was commonest presentation. WHO Type III NPC was commonest histopathological diagnosis 65.3 % (N = 92). Stage IV 36.1 % (N = 51) was commonest stage followed by stage III was 32 % (N = 46). Majority of the patients of NPC received CCRT 68.7 % (N = 78) followed by SCRT 13 % (N = 15) and Induction + CCRT 13 % (N = 15). The overall mean survival of NPC was 49.56 months. There was no significant correlation of age, gender, smoking, histopathology and treatment on the overall survival. However the stage was the only strong predictor of overall survival. Also the patients with intracranial extension had low survival which is turn depicts the advanced stage of disease. NPC survival is directly related to the stage of the disease irrespective of the treatment modality received. The negative EBV status in our patients implies that there are other risk factors involved in the causation of NPC for which further studies are needed to establish the etiological insult.