Identifying optimal candidates for postoperative adjuvant therapy among regional persistent/recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after neck dissection

Table 2 Summary of the multivariable analyses of prognostic factors in original cohort

Characteristic	B	Hazard ratio (95% CI)	P
Progression-free survival
preoperative EBV DNA level	0.522	1.686(1.184–2.401)	0.004
PLNs	0.397	1.488(1.060–2.087)	0.021
ECS	0.646	1.908(1.363–2.671)	< 0.001
Overall survival
PLNs	0.892	2.441(1.460–4.081)	0.001
ECS	1.331	3.787(2.243–6.393)	< 0.001
Status of lymph node	0.742	2.099(1.203–3.662)	0.009
Loco-regional relapse-free survival
preoperative EBV DNA level	0.668	1.950(1.277–2.979)	0.002
ECS	0.651	1.918(1.290–2.852)	0.001
Distant metastasis-free survival
PLNs	0.565	1.760(1.015–3.050)	0.044
ECS	0.810	2.249 (1.307–3.869)	0.003
Surgical methods	0.825	2.281(1.023–5.085)	0.044

Abbreviations: CI confidence interval
HRs and p values were calculated using an adjusted multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model, Age (y) (> 45 vs. ≤ 45); Sex (M vs. F); rN stage (1–2 vs. 3); EBV DNA (> 0 vs. 0 copy/ml); PLNs (> 2 vs. ≤ 2); ECS (yes vs. no); surgical methods (SND vs. RND); Bilaterality (unilateral vs. bilateral); Status of lymph node (Recurrence vs. Residual); Maximal diameter of LNs (> 20 mm vs. ≤ 20 mm); Type of treatment (surgery with postoperative treatment vs. surgery alone) were included as covariates. Variables were selected with the backward stepwise approach, and the p value threshold was 0.1 (p > 0.1) for removing insignificant variables from the model. Only variables significantly associated with survival were presented, and marginally significant variables (0.05 < p < 0.1) were remained in the final Cox model but not presented in the table
EBV Epstein–Barr virus, PLN positive lymph node, ECS extracapsular spread, RND radical neck dissection, SND selective neck dissection

ISSN: 1471-2407