• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 1996

Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate survival, failure patterns, and prognostic factors of MMR patients after radiation therapy. We also discussed the need for chemotherapy. Materials and Methods : A retrospective analysis was done for 23 patients with MMR who were treated with radiation therapy from June 1985 to November 1992. There were 19 male and 4 female patients, The patients' age ranged from 17 to 71 years (median 39 years). Systemic symptoms including fever, weight loss, or malaise were found in $30\%$ of the patients. The nasal cavity was most frequently involved No patients had nodal involvement at diagnosis. There were 2 patients with distant metastasis at presentation. Radiation therapy was delivered five times a week, 1.8 Gy daily, total $45\~54$ Gy (median 50.4 Gy) using 6 MV X-ray No patients received chemotherapy as initial treatment. Results : Overall 5-year and 10-year survival rates were $52.4\%$ and $44.1\%$, respectively. Seventy Percent(12/17) of the patients achieved complete response to radiotherapy, and $29.4\%$ (5/17) achieved partial response. The Patients with complete response showed a better 5-year survival rate than those with partial response ($66.9\%$ vs. $20\%$. p=0.004). Symptom duration before diagnosis, the presence of systemic symptom, and the number of primary sites had no influence on survival. The patterns of failure were as follows: local failure(1), failure in adjacent site(1), local and distant failure(1) distant metastasis(2). and conversion to malignant lymphoma(1). We could not find factors associated with the patterns of failure. Conclusion : The most important facto associated with survival was the response to radiotherapy. Seventeen percent of the patients had distant metastasis, and the salvage after distant metastasis was not successful. However. about $50\%$ of the patients could achieve long-term survival with local radiation therapy alone. Therefore, chemotherapy of MMR should be done after a prospective randomized study for the factors associated with distant metastasis.