Compliance with National Guidelines on the Treatment of Stage II–IVB Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in a Regional Cancer Center of Southern China

OBJECTIVE: It is unknown whether the treatment provided to patients with stage II-IVB NPC in southern China adheres to the 2015 NCCN guidelines. Consequently, a retrospective analysis was conducted, in order to evaluate the compliance with NCCN guidelines and identify the areas for improvement. METHODS: The present study was a retrospective study that included patients with stage II-IVB NPC in southern China during the period 2013 and 2014. The treatment regimens were compared with the 2015 NCCN guidelines in order to identify potential noncompliance regarding the treatment for stage II–IVB NPC. The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, univariate and/or multivariate analysis using SPSS version 16.0.0. RESULTS: A total of 215 patients, including 166 men (77.21%) and 49 women (22.79%), were involved in the analysis. Although the overall rate of noncompliance with the NCCN recommendations was 23.26%, the noncompliance rate of concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT), induction of chemotherapy (IC) followed by CCRT and CCRT followed by adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) was 7.02%, 39.76% and 50.00%, respectively. Univariate analysis indicated that NCCN noncompliance regarding the treatment for stage II-IVB NPC did not exhibit a significant correlation with the parameters age, gender, insurance status, education profile, first clinic department, careers, comorbidities and overall clinical stage, but it indicated a significant association with the therapeutic schedule (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis indicated that the NCCN noncompliance regarding the treatment for stage II–IVB NPC exhibited a statistically significant difference between CCRT and CCRT followed by AC (OR=0.10, 95% CI 0.04-0.27, P<0.05), although the difference noted between CCRT and IC followed by CCRT was not significantly different (OR=1.71, 95% CI 0.50-5.87,P=0.40). CONCLUSIONS: The use of specific therapeutic schedules may affect the noncompliance with NCCN guidelines regarding the treatment for stage II–IVB NPC in southern China, notably with regard to the treatment schedule of CCRT followed by AC.