The Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant epithelial tumor originating in the nasopharynx and has a high incidence in Southeast Asia and North Africa. To develop these comprehensive guidelines for the diagnosis and management of NPC, the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) arranged a multi-disciplinary team comprising of experts from all sub-specialties of NPC to write, discuss, and revise the guidelines. Based on the findings of evidence-based medicine in China and abroad, domestic experts have iteratively developed these guidelines to provide proper management of NPC. Overall, the guidelines describe the screening, clinical and pathological diagnosis, staging and risk assessment, therapies, and follow-up of NPC, which aim to improve the management of NPC.

Keywords: CSCO; Chemotherapy; Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology; Diagnosis; Immunotherapy; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Radiotherapy; Risk; Staging; Surgery.

FIGURE 1

Individualized follow‐up strategy for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. For patients in subgroup 1, the risk‐based follow‐up arrangement is a total of 10 follow‐up visits within 5 years (No. of follow‐up for the first 1 to 5 years, sequentially: 2, 3, 2, 2, and 1 per year, respectively); patients in subgroup 2 require a total of 11 follow‐up visits (No. of follow‐up for the first 1 to 5 years, sequentially: 2, 4, 2, 2, and 1 per year, respectively); subgroup 3 patients need a total of 13 follow‐up visits (No. of follow‐up for the first 1 to 5 years, sequentially: 4, 4, 3, 1, and 1 per year, respectively); subgroup 4 patients require a total of 14 follow‐up visits (No. of follow‐up for the first 1 to 5 years, sequentially: 4, 5, 3, 1, and 1 per year, respectively)