Benign nasopharyngeal tumours with special reference to angiofibroma

Summary

• 1. Nasopharyngeal Fibroma is a rare tumour, 25 cases recorded during the years 1955–1962 are reported.

• 2. Males were seen to be predominantly affected.

• 3. Even though Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Fibromas are rare the symptoms which the tumour produces makes the diagnosis easy. When symptoms such as progressive nasal obstruction, recurrent nose bleeds occuring in a school boy with a firm to hard nasopharyngeal mass a possibility of this disease should be considered.

• 4. Surgical treatment is the ideal treatment and transpalatal approach (Wilson) is the best for majority of tumours, transmandibular approach may be done for laterally extending tumours.

• 5. In our opinion spontaneous regression of tumour never occours.

• 6. Pre-operative irradiation reduces the vascularity and size of the tumour and thus facilitates the subsequent removal of tumour by surgery. We did not notice any adhesion formation between the tumour and the adjacent walls of nasopharynx folloing irradiation.