Histopathological patterns of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Sudan

Objective was to study histopathological patterns of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in Sudanese patients and to compare them with the internationally published series. A retrospective review for records of NPC patients treated in the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Molecular Biology and Oncoloy (INMO), Wadmedani, Sudan during the period 2000-2005 was conducted. Parameters included in the review were histological types of NPC according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, age, gender, locality, ethnicity and stage. All cases of NPC with positive histology were included while other types of histology lymphoma, sarcoma were excluded. The SPSS software was used for data entry and analysis. Total number of patients with NPC was 103. Age range from 11-82 years, median was 41 years and mean was 45.5 years of age. Male, female ratio was 2:1. The WHO histology type-3 was 73.8% of cases, WHO type-2 was 26.2%, and there was no case of WHO type1 found in this study population. Neck swelling is the most common presenting system 77.8%. Patterns of NPC classification resembles those seen in endemic areas like South China. Dominanant histology was WHO-type 3. Identifying risk factors for NPC in Sudan is required. (author)