Prognostic value of MRI-determined cervical lymph node size in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the prognostic value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-determined cervical lymph node (CLN) size in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 2066 patients with NPC treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy, and randomly divided them into two groups, in a 1:1 ratio. One group was used for training (the training group), and the other one was for internal validation (the validation group). All patients had undergone MRI examination and the maximal axial diameters (MAD) of the axial plane of all positive nodes had been measured and recorded. Results: Of 683 patients with CLN metastases in the training group (n = 1033), MAD = 4 cm was associated with worse OS (64.7% vs 84.6%, P