Du YY, Luo DH, Sun XS, et al. - In this review of 607 incident nonmetastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients who had received intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) ± chemotherapy, researchers investigated whether combining pretreatment Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA level and cervical node necrosis (CNN) has any prognostic value for patients receiving IMRT. They found pretreatment EBV DNA level and CNN status behaved as independent prognostic factors. Significantly better 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) was observed in patients in the low-level EBV DNA group or non-CNN group. For overall survival, PFS, distant metastasis-free survival, but not for locoregional relapse-free survival, an independent prognostic role of CNN was revealed in multivariate analyses. Findings revealed a close correlation of both pretreatment plasma EBV DNA level and CNN status with the prognosis of NPC patients in the IMRT era. Better risk stratification and prognostic value can be achieved by combining EBV DNA level and CNN status.