Abstract: Objective  To assess the efficacy and safety of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for nasopharyngeal neoplasm. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were fully searched up from creating database to June 15, 2012. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of IMRT versus conventional radiotherapy (CRT) for nasopharyngeal neoplasm were included. The quality of included studies was evaluated by two individual researchers and data were analyzed by using RevMan 5.1 software. Results  Fifteen RCTs were included. Meta-analyses suggested that patients treated by IMRT had a higher fractional stimulated parotid salivary flow rate and a higher stimulated whole salivary flow rate than CRT. IMRT can significantly reduce the acute xerostomia (RR=0.46, P<0.000 1),reaction of mucosa (RR=0.86, P=0.04), reaction of skin(RR=0.33, P<0.000 1), long-dated xerostomia (RR=0.28, P=0.01) and limitation of mouth opening (RR=0.42, P=0.008). And IMRT trended to improve short-term efficacy(RR=1.22, P=0.02) and long-term survival (RR=1.25, P=0.04). Moreover, IMRT trended to shorten the treatment time while increasing the costs. Conclusion  Compared with CRT, IMRT trends to be superior for nasopharyngeal neoplasm.However, because of small sample size, the results need to be proved by more clinical trials.

Key words: Radiotherapy, intensity-modulated, Nasopharyngeal neoplasms, Meta-analysis