The prognostic value of the seventh edition of the AJCC staging system for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in China

Abstract

Abstract The 7th edition of the International Union against Cancer/American Joint Committee on Cancer (UICC/AJCC) manual defines new classification rules for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The study was conducted to assess its effectiveness in predicting the prognosis of patients in Hunan Province, China. Between January 2001 and December 2004, 84 primary NPC patients with detailed clinical information were collected. We retrospectively analyzed the follow-up data of these patients in Sep 2007, July 2009, July 2010, Dec 2013, and Nov 2020. The 7th edition of the AJCC system creates subgroups (stages I to IV) that are assigned to 10 (11.9%), 31 (36.9%), 27 (32.2%), and 16 (19.0%) patients, respectively. The 7th edition of the AJCC system showed highly significant differences in gender for DFS. In the 7th version of the AJCC the overall stages, T classifications, and N classification showed a significant correlation with OS and disease-free survival (DFS). Multivariate analysis showed that T classification and N classification were independently significant prognostic factors for DFS and OS with 6-years. In conclusion, the 7th edition of the AJCC system for NPC is prognostically useful for patients from Hunan Province.