Ma Jun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said his research team has proposed revision suggestions for the current internationally recognized AJCC/UICC eighth edition clinical staging system for nasopharyngeal carcinoma for the first time. [By Zheng Caixiong/chinadaily.com.cn]

For the first time, Chinese scientists have proposed revision suggestions for the current internationally recognized AJCC/UICC eighth edition clinical staging system for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare tumor that forms at the back of the nose.

The suggestions are expected to be adopted by the new staging system and guide future global clinical treatment, said Ma Jun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The study result, titled Refining the 8th edition TNM classification for EBV related nasopharyngeal carcinoma, was published in the oncology journal Cancer Cells on Thursday.

The study is based on extensive clinical data analysis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, said Ma at a Friday news conference in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

Ma is the deputy president at the Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and the leader of his research team.

The study result is a breakthrough and is of great significance in guiding the staging treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in the following years, said Ma.

Ma's team's study result, Refining the 8th edition TNM classification for EBV related nasopharyngeal carcinoma, was published in the oncology journal Cancer Cell. [By Zheng Caixiong/chinadaily.com.cn]

China accounts for 47 percent of new cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma worldwide each year, with a particularly high incidence in the southern Chinese region, according to Ma.

Last year alone, 6,852 new nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were diagnosed in Guangdong province.

According to Ma, the clinical data of epidemic areas is crucial for improving accurate clinical staging.

Ma's team has spent decades researching clinical staging standards for nasopharyngeal carcinoma using the cancer center's big data platform.

Nine revisions have been made to prior editions of the AJCC staging system for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the previous two decades, five of which resulted from Ma's team's research.

The research results have corrected 30 percent of patients with incorrect staging, avoiding misdiagnosis and mistreatment.

Based on the current staging system, only patients in the early stages receive simple radiotherapy, while the remaining patients need to receive comprehensive radiotherapy treatment combined with chemotherapy, said Ma.

Among them, nearly 90 percent of patients require chemotherapy, and the treatment-related toxicity is high, he added.