Current Clinical Trials

Note: Some citations in the text of this section are followed by a level of evidence. The PDQ editorial boards use a formal ranking system to help the reader judge the strength of evidence linked to the reported results of a therapeutic strategy. (Refer to the PDQ summary on Levels of Evidence ¹ for more information.)

Standard treatment options:

1. Chemoradiation therapy.[1][Level of evidence: 3iiiA]



2. High-dose radiation therapy to the primary tumor site and prophylactic radiation therapy to the nodal drainage.[2-4]

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with stage II nasopharyngeal cancer ². The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.

General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site ³.

References

1. Cheng SH, Tsai SY, Yen KL, et al.: Concomitant radiotherapy and chemotherapy for early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. J Clin Oncol 18 (10): 2040-5, 2000.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
2. Mesic JB, Fletcher GH, Goepfert H: Megavoltage irradiation of epithelial tumors of the nasopharynx. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 7 (4): 447-53, 1981.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
3. Hoppe RT, Goffinet DR, Bagshaw MA: Carcinoma of the nasopharynx. Eighteen years' experience with megavoltage radiation therapy. Cancer 37 (6): 2605-12, 1976.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
4. Mendenhall WM, Riggs CE Jr, Cassisi NJ: Treatment of head and neck cancers. In: DeVita VT Jr, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds.: Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005, pp 662-732. 
   
   

Glossary Terms

Nonconsecutive case series with total mortality as an endpoint. See Levels of Evidence for Adult and Pediatric Cancer Treatment Studies (PDQ®) for more information.