Misdiagnosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma(NPC): Analysis of 42 Cases

Objective To investigate the cause and preventing measures of misdiagnosis for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods The clinical data of 42 missed cases for nasopharyngeal tumor were analyzed retrospectively. Results Misdiagnosis rate was 15.1%, In 42 missed cases of NPC, 33 cases were diagnosed as chronic lymphadenitis, 3 cases tympanitis, 2 cases migraine, 2 cases cervical scrofula, 2 cases rhinitis, the proportion of missed cases from county hospital was 69%, from city hospital was 31%, from department of medical oncology was 73%, from others was 26.2%, cervical tumor treated with resection was 21.4% of missed cases.Conclusions Secondary or concomitant, biologic character of NPC was major factor of missed cases. The authors recommended that the popularization of using fiberscope, detecting VCA/IgA, VCA/EA, CT and MRI scaning of nasopharynx could decrease misdiagnosis of NPC.