Treatment of persistent and recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma by brachytherapy

Thirteen patients with locally recurrent or persistent nasopharyngeal carcinoma were re-treated with intracavitary brachytherapy associated or not with external radiation therapy at the Hospital de la Santa creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain, from February 1984 to May 1992. Eleven patients presented recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma and two patients presented with persistent nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Eight of the 13 patients (61%) were disease-free at 6, 6, 6, 8, 12, 20, 33 and 44 months after re-treatment; three of eight died of intercurrent disease at 6, 8, and 20 months. Five patients developed local recurrence and died at 14, 16, 28, 34 and 58 months after re-treatment. None of the patients experienced a significant complication of re-irradiation.