Objective To analyze the clinical effect of MRI in the appraisal of intensitymodulated radiotherapy combined with docetaxel and oxaliplatin chemotherapy in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its value in prognosis. Methods The clinical data of 50 patients with pathologically confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were admitted into the hospital during June 2013 to June 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy (docetaxel and oxaliplatin) scheme. The MRI imaging data of patients before and after radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy were statistically analyzed. The application value of MRI in the appraisal of the effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma was analyzed. Results 50 patients were included in 178 metastatic lymph nodes. There were 38 short diameter of which was less than 10mm. The lymph node area was (251.6±16.2) mm2 . After radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the areas of metastatic lymph nodes reduced. The reexamination a month later showed that there were 131 lymph nodes disappearing and 47 lymph nodes remaining the area of which was (89.4±2.1) mm2 . Compared with that before the treatment, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Before the treatment, the tumor size was 0.31 to 16.28cm2 and the average was (5.15±3.21) cm2 while after the treatment, was 0 to 5.32 cm2 and (1.03±1.63) cm2 , and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Among the 50 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, there were 28 cases of CR, 18 cases of PR, 2 cases of SD and 2 cases of NC. The remission rate was 92.00%. Conclusion MRI can accurately reflect the morphologic characteristics of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and the condition of cervical lymph node metastasis. Meanwhile, it is highly sensitive to biological changes and tumor signal in patients. The curative effect can be evaluated through the changes of form, diameter and boundary observed by MRI, which is worthy of promotion.