Clinical Presentation of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma - An experience at ENT Department, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore

Aim: To describe the clinical presentation of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) Methods: This prospective descriptive study was conducted at ENT department of Jinnah Hospital, Lahore from January 2011 to December 2015. A total of 50 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were included in the study and their clinical presentation noted. Results: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) affected both male and female patients with a ratio of 3.2:1. The mean age of the male patients was 48.8 years and females presented earlier, with a mean age of 46.7 years. The most common presenting symptom was neck swelling occurring in 72% of cases, followed by nasal obstruction (50%), headache (30%), epistaxis (18%), ear symptoms (18%) and eye symptoms (18%). The duration of symptoms before presentation ranged from 1 month to 35 months (mean = 10.5 months). Conclusion: Nasopharyngeal carcinomas account for approximately 70% of all primary malignant tumors of the nasopharynx and it is one of the most common malignancies in Asian populations. It has vast variety of symptoms of presentation; the most common being Neck Lump, Nasal Obstruction, Headache, Epistaxis, Ear and Eye symptoms. Therefore any patient presenting with these symptoms has to be scrutinized for nasopharyngeal carcinoma as early diagnosis has significantly better treatment results.