NASOPHARYNGEAL MALIGNANT TUMOR: An Overlooked Condition

Abstract

IT IS WITH some temerity that I present a paper on a subject which should be familiar to every well trained and observant otolaryngologist. However, the appearance, in a relatively short period, of three cases of malignant growths of the nasopharynx that had been previously overlooked prompted a review of the knowledge and a revision of ideas in the light of modern concepts of pathology, diagnosis and treatment. Accordingly, a study was undertaken that comprised 5 cases in my personal practice, 10 cases from the private practice of interested colleagues and 9 from institutional practice at the University of Colorado medical center from 1940 to 1949 inclusive. Only those cases of true histological malignancy were studied; juvenile angiofibroma, often clinically malignant, was not included. The results of this survey will be summarized later. A nasopharyngeal malignant growth, while not the most frequent, is possibly the most serious growth of the