| Background:Radiotherapy technology,abbreviated as radiotherapy,is the first-line treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer(NPC),but it can damage local cerebral blood vessels received with radiation and cause a series of pathophysiological processes,resulting in radioactive encephalopathy and radioactive cerebrovascular damage.Hence,it might in theory be inferred that the type of patients with ischemic stroke after radiotherapy for NPC mainly involves in large blood vessels of radiated areas.After radiotherapy,damaged healthy energy of the human body will also affect the syndrome changes of patients,influencing treatments and prognoses in patients with ischemic stroke after radiotherapy for NPC.However,is this true?What are effects of radiotherapy for NPC on ischemic stroke types and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syndrome?Above two questions are not available in clinical research evidences.Objective:The paper is aimed to study effects of radiotherapy for NPC on cerebrovascular damage and changes of TCM syndrome in patients with ischemic stroke,so as to provide research foundation for exploring the prevention and treatment of vascular damage after radiotherapy for NPC,developing therapeutic schedule reducing the incidence of postradiotherapy complications,and improving the quality of life for patients with NPC in the future.Methods:120 ischemic stroke patients with histories of radiotherapy for NPC,who were from Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in a decade,were respectively statistically analyzed with the single-center retrospective clinical study.Patients' demographic data,TCM syndrome characteristics,risk factors of ischemic stroke,cerebrovascular evaluations including color Doppler ultrasound for carotid and vertebral arteries,and head MRA examinations)were collected and analyzed.Results:1.A higher proportion of ischemic stroke occurred in patients with the longer interval time of radiotherapy for NPC,gerontism(the average age of 64.5±9.565 years old),male(74.2%),and a higher proportion occurred in patients with intracranial arterial stenosis compared with extracranial arterial stenosis.2.TCM syndrome in patients with radiotherapy for NPC combined with ischemic stroke was mainly yin syndrome(78.3%),with a higher proportion in patients with apoplexy involving both collateral and meridian(91.6%).3.TCM yin and yang syndromes' distribution has no significant correlation with intracranial and extracranial vascular stenosis,and the distribution of vessel numbers(P>0.05).4.TCM yin and yang syndromes have no obvious correlation with national institutes of health stroke scale(NIHSS)score and Glasgow coma score(GCS)of patients with ischemic stroke after radiotherapy for NPC(P>0.05).5.There was no obvious influence of diabetes,hyperlipidemia,hypertension and smoking histories on the occurrence of ischemic stroke after radiotherapy for NPC observed in this study(P<0.05).6.Incidences of intracranial and extracranial arterial stenosis were higher than those in the literature(P<0.05)7.There was a higher proportion of arterial stenosis in the intracranial distribution of yin syndrome in this study compared with that in the literature(P<0.05).Conclusions:TCM syndrome in patients with radiotherapy for NPC combined with ischemic stroke is mainly yin syndrome(78.3%),with a higher proportion in patients with apoplexy involving both collateral and meridian,as is similar to TCM syndrome distribution in patients with ischemic stroke and no histories of radiotherapy for NPC.Hence,it is believed that radiotherapy for NPC has little influence on TCM syndrome characteristics in patients with ischemic stroke.Causes may be slow damaging of radioactive blood vessels of brain,subjects mainly being gerontism patients,and the dominant risk factors of atherosclerosis.Prospective cohort control studies should be further conducted to determine effects of radiotherapy for NPC on TCM syndrome characteristics in patients with ischemic stroke. |
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