Clinical characteristics and mri images of patient with T4-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma at K Hospital
Main Article Content
Abstract
The study was conducted with the aim of describing the clinical characteristics and MRI features of patients with T4-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. This was a retrospective descriptive study of 60 patients classified as T4 according to the AJCC 2017 staging system at K Hospital from January 2020 to December 2022. The mean age was 47.28 ± 12.85 years old. The majority of patients were male (60%), with a male-to-female ratio of 3:2. Central nervous system-related symptoms were recorded in 71.67% of patients. Intracranial invasion was the most common T4 tumor extension (65%), predominantly involving meningeal lesions (53.33%). On MRI, the tumors demonstrated iso- or hypointensity on T1-weighted images (100%), hyperintensity on T2-weighted images, and heterogeneous enhancement of moderate to strong degree (100%).
Article Details
Keywords
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, T4 stage, clinical characteristics, MRI features
References
2. Kang M, Zhou P, Li G, et al. Validation of the 8th edition of the UICC/AJCC staging system for nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Oncotarget. 2017; 8(41): 70586-70594.
3. Ng WT, Corry J, Langendijk JA, et al. Current management of stage IV nasopharyngeal carcinoma without distant metastasis. Cancer treatment reviews. 2020; 85: 101995.
4. Li Y, Chen Q, Li M, et al. A dataset of primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma MRI with multi-modalities segmentation. Scientific Data. 2025; 12(1): 1450.
5. Colevas AD, Cmelak AJ, Pfister DG, et al. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Head and Neck Cancers, Version 2.2025. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network: JNCCN. 2025; 23(2): 2-11.
6. Chua MLK, Zhang X, Wong KCW, Marret G, Spreafico A, Ma B. Updates on Treatments and Management of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book. 2025; 45(3): e472460.
7. Bray F, Ferlay J, Laversanne M, et al. Cancer Incidence in Five Continents: Inclusion criteria, highlights from Volume X and the global status of cancer registration. International journal of cancer. 2015; 137(9): 2060-2071.
8. Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, et al. Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians. 2024; 74(3): 229-263.
9. Wang HY, Chang YL, To KF, et al. A new prognostic histopathologic classification of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Chinese journal of cancer. 2016; 35: 41.
10. Cao C, Luo J, Gao L, et al. Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Detected Intracranial Extension in the T4 Classification Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma with Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy. Cancer research and treatment. 2017; 49(2): 518-525.
11. Zong J, Lin S, Chen Y, et al. Does MRI-detected cranial nerve involvement affect the prognosis of locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy? PloS one. 2014; 9(6): e100571.
12. King AD, Bhatia KS. Magnetic resonance imaging staging of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the head and neck. World journal of radiology. 2010; 2(5): 159-165.
13. Ho FC, Tham IW, Earnest A, Lee KM, Lu JJ. Patterns of regional lymph node metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a meta-analysis of clinical evidence. BMC cancer. 2012; 12:98.
14. Lee AW, Ng WT, Pan JJ, et al. International guideline for the delineation of the clinical target volumes (CTV) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Radiotherapy and oncology: journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. 2018; 126(1): 25-36.
15. Lin S-J, Guo Q-J, Liu Q, et al. International Consensus Guideline on Delineation of the Clinical Target Volumes at Different Dose Levels for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (2024 Version). International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics. 2025; 123(2): 415-431.