ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Head and Neck Cancer
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in the Treatment of Nasopharyngeal CancerView all 11 articles
Identifying key risk factors for thrombocytopenia in patients undergoing radical chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer: A retrospective study
Provisionally accepted
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
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Introduction: In this study, we investigated the risk factors for thrombocytopenia in patients undergoing radical chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data and laboratory indicators of 318 patients initially diagnosed with NPC who received radical chemoradiotherapy at our institution between January 2013 and May 2024. The patients were stratified into three groups based on the severity of post-chemoradiotherapy thrombocytopenia. Clinical parameters and laboratory indices were then systematically compared among these groups. Results: Platelet counts before and after chemoradiotherapy differed significantly (Z = −15.421; p< 0.001). No significant differences were observed among the groups in age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, alcohol consumption, or T, N, and M stages (all, p> 0.05). However, smoking status differed significantly (p< 0.001). Logistic regression identified smoking (odds ration [OR] = 3.393; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.88–6.123; p< 0.001) and preoperative platelet count (OR = 0.993; 95% CI, 0.989–0.997; p< 0.001) as independent risk factors for post-chemoradiotherapy thrombocytopenia. Conclusion: Smoking and low baseline platelet counts were independent risk factors for thrombocytopenia following radical chemoradiotherapy in patients with NPC. Therefore, dynamic monitoring of platelet levels in smokers and in those with low preoperative counts is crucial throughout treatment.
Keywords: Chemoradiotherapy, Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Risk factors, Thrombocytopenia
Received: 23 Nov 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Huang, Luo, Li, Lu, Chen and Qiu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiao-fang Chen
Enhui Qiu
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