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Overview of the condition
Mr. Zhao underwent nasopharyngeal microscopy in January 2020 to suspect the possibility of nasopharyngeal cancer, and was later diagnosed by enhanced CT and pathological slides (pathological results are unknown).
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, unlike most tumors, is usually preferred for radiation therapy rather than surgery because of its specific location and relative sensitivity to radiation therapy. Under the advice of the doctor, Mr. Zhao did not choose surgery and adopted the method of chemotherapy + radiotherapy. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, the body is more harmful, in February 2020 after chemotherapy 2 courses, Mr. Zhao began a radiotherapy + chemotherapy regimen, to April 2020 a total of 33 times of radiotherapy, chemotherapy 2 times.
Popular science trivia
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is one of the common head and neck malignancies, and its incidence has obvious familial aggregation and geographical concentration, and is more common in the two broad areas. In addition to genetic factors, EBV infection is also one of the perpetrators of nasopharyngeal cancer, and it has been proven that EBV is associated with the occurrence of a variety of tumors.
The early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer are not obvious, and the common symptoms are: (1) aspirational rhinorrhoid blood, that is, blood in sputum or blood in the nose after nasal inhalation. (2) Tinnitus and hearing loss: nasopharyngeal cancer mostly occurs in the lateral wall of the nasopharynx, and unilateral tinnitus can occur when the tumor compresses the Eustachian tube. (2) Headache: Headache is a common symptom, the site is not fixed, the pain is atypical, and it is not easy to pay attention to it.
The pathological types of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are mainly divided into keratinous squamous cell carcinoma and non-keratinized carcinoma, keratinized squamous cell carcinoma, also known as squamous cell carcinoma (this type is more common), and subdivided into high, medium and low differentiation. Nonkeratotic carcinoma, also known as lymphoepithelial carcinoma, can be divided into differentiated types (including spindle cell nonkeratotic carcinomas) and undifferentiated types (also known as nasopharyngeal undifferentiated carcinomas).
Treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is different from most tumors, and chemotherapy is the preferred treatment option. Because nasopharyngeal carcinoma is mostly low-differentiated carcinoma, the sensitivity to radiation is high, and radiation radiation can easily cover the lesion of nasopharyngeal cancer and its lymphatic drainage area. Surgical treatment is usually used for highly differentiated NASOPHARY that is insensitive to radiation therapy, as well as for recurrent and localized lesions after radiation therapy.
Although the lesions were treated with radiation therapy plus chemotherapy, there is still a risk of recurrence and metastasis if no other intervention is performed. After completing the traditional treatment, Mr. Zhao and his family sought the help of Professor Zhang Minghui's team at Tsinghua University School of Medicine, and after understanding the demonstration cases of NKT cell therapy, hoped to reduce the risk of metastatic recurrence in the future.
After reading Mr. Zhao's medical records, Professor Zhang Minghui made the following analysis and judgment:
1. Patients complete conventional radiotherapy, but there is still a risk of metastasis recurrence, and some undetectable tumor cells may be metastasized through the vasculature and lymphatic vessels, which is difficult to detect at an early stage.
2. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is often transferred to cervical lymph nodes through lymphatic vessels; through the blood tract to the lungs and bones and other parts, NKT cell therapy has a strong protective effect on lymph nodes and organs rich in blood supply.
3. NKT treatment is the use of powerful immune cells to kill those tumor cells that may remain in the body that cannot be discovered, and there are basically no side effects, which is very friendly to patients. Combining NKT cells with NKT cells after completion of radical radiotherapy can effectively reduce the risk of metastatic recurrence.
Mr. Zhao adopted NKT cell immunotherapy in June 2020, and has completed 14 courses of treatment for a total of 20 months (as of 2022.2), during which many re-examinations have not seen any obvious signs of tumor progression, and the overall evaluation is stable!
Imagery
Lymph nodes in the right cervical area II and III can be seen in the patient's neck MR, the size is about 0 .6cm in August 2020, the diameter of the larger patient in December 2020 is about 0.5 cm, which is slightly smaller than before, and the lymph nodes in the right neck II and III are not seen in the 2022.3 review; 2020.8-2022.3 The right pharyngeal crypt and eustachian tube pharyngeal opening narrowed, the narrowing of the parapharyngeal fat gap was not obvious, and the effusion in the sphenoid sinus increased, and no abnormalities were seen.
Swelling aspect
2020.8-2022.3 No abnormalities were found in the tumor markers examined, pay attention to re-examination.
quality of life
Mr. Zhao's quality of life has been greatly improved. Physical strength has improved significantly compared to before treatment, the mental state is very good, and it returns to the state before the illness. Normal work and life, not affected by the disease.
Conclusion
Mr. Zhao achieved the expected results after using the NKT cell therapy method, and in the nearly 2 years of treatment, many evaluations were stable, and the latest assessment results still did not see progress.
Popular science knowledge, for reference only, individual patients are subject to clinical treatment.