Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare type of head and neck cancer. It starts in the upper part of your throat, behind the nose. This area is called the nasopharynx. The nasopharynx is precariously placed at the base of your skull, above the roof of your mouth. Medical therapy consists of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Concurrent treatment with cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and radiotherapy has been shown to improve survival rates.

The malignancy of nasopharyngeal cancer has an intermediate incidence of five to nine cases per 100,000 population per year in inhabitants of Netherlands. Other studies have used neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy with improvement in local control or progression-free survival rates. Approaches to primary prevention of NPC remain under consideration. Thus, there is a need to conduct secondary prevention, such as improving rates of early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment in NPC patients. Achievements in these areas might bring hope of providing a successful screening model in cancer.