Original Research Article

Clinical advances in nasopharyngeal carcinoma surgery and a video demonstration

¹ Department of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou 510060, P. R. China
² Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Guangzhou 510060, China

^* Corresponding author: chmingy@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Received: 19 August 2020
Accepted: 25 December 2020

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is highly radiosensitive, and radiotherapy is recommended for newly diagnosed NPC. Because of the poor visual surgical field, narrow operating space, difficulty protecting the internal carotid artery (ICA) and poor wound healing, the development of NPC surgery has been severely limited. For recurrent NPC, some open surgical approaches, such as the maxillary swing, successfully solve the above major problems. However, these operations are traumatic and lead to many postoperative complications. With the development of minimally invasive surgery, two concepts, the “third-hand technique” and “dumpling making technique”, have been proposed, combining with the intraoperative navigation systems and multiple anatomical landmarks for identifying ICA. Endoscopic nasopharyngectomy (ENPG) can also break through the above restrictions and has become a first-line treatment for locally recurrent NPC. Moreover, a new surgical staging system for recurrent NPC was devised to aid clinicians in choosing the most suitable treatment for these patients. A current study on ENPG alone for newly diagnosed stage I NPC shows that the long-term survival outcomes after ENPG are similar to those after IMRT. ENPG was associated with low medical costs and satisfactory QOL and might be an alternative strategy for treating newly diagnosed localized stage I NPC patients who refuse radiotherapy.