Nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A “different” head and neck tumour. Part B: treatment, prognostic factors, and outcomes

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most interesting and intriguing malignant tumour located in the nasopharynx, because it is a “peculiar” malignancy, “different” from almost all the other head and neck tumours according to several points of view. Given that radiotherapy (RT) is the treatment of choice for NPC, chemotherapy (CT) has been added to standard RT to improve outcome in high-risk patients, either as an adjuvant, neoadjuvant or concurrent treatment modality with radiation. Surgery plays an important role in rescuing recurrent or persistent disease after primary (CT)RT. This second part of the review provides a critical analysis of various treatment described in the literature, both for primary cancer and for regional and distant metastases. The prognostic factors and the final results of the various treatments will also be analysed.