Research progress on brain metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Distant metastasis is the major cause failure on nasopharyngeal carcinoma treatment. The most common sites of distant metastasis are bone, lung, and liver. Although intracranial invasion through the skull base with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma in patients is not rare, metastasize to the brain through hematogenous route or cerebrospinal fluid is very uncommon. At present, there are no systematic researches on the treatment and prognosis for brain metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and related studies are mostly reported in the form of case reports. This article will review the published literatures on brain metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma trying to gain a deeper understanding of this rare phenomenon. Key words: Nasopharyngeal neoplasms; Neoplasm metastasis, brain; Research progress