CLINICAL APPEARANCES IN PATIENTS WITH NASOPHARYNGEAL MALIGNANCY: RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS
1Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi İstanbul Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, KBB Kliniği, İstanbul, Turkey2Rize Devlet Hastanesi, KBB Kliniği, Rize, Turkey Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the results of nasopharyngeal (NPX) biopsies and clinical presentations in patients with suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and also examine the association between nasopharyngeal carcinoma subtypes and clinical findings.
Material and methods: A retrospective study has been conducted at our institute to analyse 746 patients with nasopharyngeal biopsy. Clinical presentations and findings were analyzed to assess the association between benign and malignant biopsy outcomes. In addition, we further investigated malignant subgroups and clinical appearance.
Results: The benign and malignant groups comprised 639 (85.7%) and 107 (14.3%) patients, respectively. Neck mass (NM) and epistaxis were significantly higher in the malignant than in the benign group (p <0.001, p <0.001). Nasal obstruction (NO) and hearing loss were significantly higher in the benign group than in the malignant group (p = 0.003, p = 0.008). NM and OME were the most frequent findings in undifferentiated NPC (UNPC) (71.4%, 64%) respectively. NO was the most frequent symptoms in UNPC and lymphomas (31.3%, 25%). The sign that had the highest sensitivity was NM (45.8%). The sensitivity of all the symptoms and clinical signs was generally low.
Conclusion: Neck mass and OME are the most common findings in UNPC, whereas nasal obstruction and neck mass are the main symptoms and signs in lymphomas. The ability of neck mass, epistaxis, nasal obstruction and hearing loss to predict NP malignancy was limited.
Keywords : Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, neck mass, epistaxis, nasopharyngeal biopsy