Deep Invasion Volume of the Primary Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Predicts Treatment Outcome.

Background and purpose: Quantification of deep invasion of the primary tumor is a predictor of outcome in oral cancer, but its predictive value in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is unknown. This study aimed to investigate deep invasion of the primary NPC by using volumetric measurements on MRI for the prediction of outcome.

Materials and methods: Retrospective review was conducted of 822 MRIs from patients with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic NPC with volumetric analysis of the primary tumor to obtain total primary tumor volume (PTV), deep invasion volume (DIV), and ratio of deep to the total primary tumor volume (DIVr). Optimal predictors were identified by the multivariable Cox regression and c-index correlating with disease-free survival (DFS), distant metastases-free survival (DMFS), and overall survival (OS).

Results: High DIVr, DIV, and PTV significantly correlated with poor DFS, DMFS, and OS (all P < .01); DIVr being the optimal measurement (hazard ratio = 3.234 for DFS, 3.409 for DMFS, and 3.184 for OS). Compared with the eighth edition American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) T-category, DIVr showed modest improvement in c-indexes for predicting DFS (0.602 versus 0.620, P = .03) and DMFS (0.597 versus 0.626, P < .01), but not OS (P = .15). The use of a DIVr-based T-category had similar survival prognostication to the eighth edition AJCC T-category although there was improved prediction in DMFS.

Conclusions: DIVr is a better predictor of outcome in NPC than PTV or DIV, with slightly superior performance to the eighth edition AJCC T-category especially for DMFS.