Prognostic value of masticatory muscle involvement in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy

In 2017, the UICC/AJCC published the 8th edition of their staging manual for NPC, which has gained universal acceptance. This is a revision based on the UICC/AJCC's 7th edition and the 2008 Chinese staging system. There are three important adjustments for primary tumor site (T) classifications: (1) T0 is added for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive cancers with cervical lymph node involvement and no identifiable primary tumor; (2) New evidence has confirmed the prognostic value of the prevertebral muscle in NPC patients with tumors designated as T2; (3) The previous T4 criteria of "masticator space" and "infratemporal fossa" are now replaced by a specific description of soft tissue involvement and tumors that invade the medial pterygoid muscle (MP) and/or the lateral pterygoid muscle (LP) are now down-staged as T2 [1].

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