Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: alternative treatment options after disease progression

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare malignancy with an incidence well under one per 100,000 person-years, except for some geographic areas, such as Asia. The prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is related to its potential for locoregional invasion and metastatic spread. Radiotherapy alone remains the standard treatment for early stages. However, for locally advanced disease, chemotherapy may offer some benefit as a radiosensitizer while treating microscopic spread disease. Chemoradiotherapy is now the standard treatment for locally advanced and/or node-positive patients. Platinum-based therapy is the preferred regimen for this therapeutic approach. In this review, we discuss all treatment modalities available for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, including the standard of care and what therapeutic options could be available for those patients who progress after the standard treatment has been delivered.