... staining; 1–4, weak staining; 5–8, moderate staining;and 9–12, strong staining. For the purpose of statisticalanalysis, the cohort was grouped into tumors with negli-gible or weak staining ... and cisplatin. Of the 221 patients, 88 were referred for treatment from asingle institution following initial diagnosis of NPC. Forlogistic reasons, only patients from this hospital wereincluded ... wasused to determine the level of COX-2 expression. A singlehead and neck histopathologist was assigned to performthe scoring. She was blinded to all patient characteristicsincluding the treatment...