Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of the internet-based continuous management for the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with symptoms 5 years after hospital discharge. Methods Patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who completed the treatment in the Radiotherapy Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from September 2014 to March 2015 and had been discharged for 5 years were selected as the research objects. The patients were randomly divided into the control group and the intervention group. The control group took routine measures, and the intervention group adopted "Internet +" continuous management on the basis of the control group. The symptom distress, fear of disease progression and quality of life scores were compared between the two groups. Results After 3 and 6 months of intervention, the scores of symptom distress and the fear of disease progression in the intervention group were lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05), but the scores of overall life quality and functional areas were higher than those of the control group (all P<0.05), and the scores of fatigue, sleep, shortness of breath and poor appetite were lower than those of the control group (all P<0.05). Conclusions The internet-based continuous management can reduce the symptom burden, alleviate fear and improve the quality of life for the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who have been discharged for 5 years.

Key words: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Internet +, Continuous management, Symptom distress, Quality of life