Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patient Characteristics at Sayang General Hospital Cianjur West Java

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most common head and neck malignancy in Indonesia, placing it as the fourth most common among all malignancies in Indonesians. NPC has different characteristics from other head and neck epithelial tumors in respect of epidemiology, histopathology findings, diagnosis and treatment modalities. NPC is one of the iceberg phenomenons in Indonesia that needs to be solved. Because the symptoms related to NPC in the early stage are usually nonspecific, which often lead to situations where NPC is considered as the most commonly misdiagnosed disease. The number of NPC patients at Sayang General Hospital Cianjur is increasing every year. The objective of this study was to evaluate epidemiology, clinical characteristics and histopathology types of patients with NPC at Sayang General Hospital Cianjur. This is a descriptive retrospective study that used data from medical records of Sayang General Hospital Cianjur during 2018-2020 and histopathology examination as confirmation. The result demonstrated 73 cases found on that period. 49 case (67,1%) of the patients are male. The age-range from 18 to 74 years old with peak incidence between 51-60 years old (32,8%). Lump in the neck is the most common chief complains in presentation (69.9%), followed by nasal congestion (8,2%). Salted fish consumption was the most prevalent risk factor (57,5.%) and active smoke (36,9%). Based on the histopathologic findings, 94.5% of the cases were classified as WHO-3.