What stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is considered early stage and what is the pathology?

What are the stages of nasopharyngeal carcinoma?

Stage 1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma is in the early stage. Let’s take a look at the specific situation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma:

1. Early stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Except for a few patients who occasionally contract runny nose or tinnitus in the morning, patients with stage I nasopharyngeal carcinoma are basically asymptomatic, but patients in the hospital often have the above ear and nose symptoms or headaches. There are many initial symptoms that promote the treatment of patients, such as the most cervical lymph node lumps, ear and nose symptoms runny nose, otitis media symptoms, headache, cranial nerve damage such as reexamination, distal metastasis, dermatomyositis, etc. The frequency order of symptoms and signs: the metastasis rate of cervical lymph node metastasis is as high as 60-80%, half of which have bilateral metastasis, bloody nose, nose bleeding, headache, tinnitus, hearing loss, nasal congestion, cranial nerve damage and others. Because the nasopharynx is the base of the skull, it is very easy to metastasize into the skull.

2. Cranial nerve injury is common in trigeminal nerve facial pain, toothache, one-sided eye deviation of the abducens nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve glossopharyngeal neuralgia, and hypoglossal nerve tongue tilting to one side. Bone injury at the skull base is relatively common, and many organs and parts of the body can be metastatic, including the spine, pelvis, ribs, lungs, liver, etc. At most, metastatic lesions occur in many places at the same time.

3. Generally, clinically, there is retractile runny nose; unilateral catarrhal otitis media for more than three weeks; cervical lymph nodes; the possibility of nasopharyngeal cancer should be considered, and a nasopharyngeal examination is required. If necessary, a nasopharyngeal disease examination should be performed to confirm the diagnosis.

It often occurs in the nasopharyngeal recess and the anterior wall. The lesions can be nodular, ulcerative, or mucosal infiltrates. Most of them are poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas. Others may be adenocarcinomas, undifferentiated carcinomas, etc.

The pathology is as follows:

① Nodular type: The tumor is nodular or lump-like, which is the most common type.

② Cauliflower type: Cauliflower-shaped tumor, rich in blood vessels, and prone to bleeding.

③Ulcerative type: The edge of the tumor is raised and the center is often necrotic.

④ Submucosal infiltration type: the tumor protrudes into the cavity, but the surface is often covered with normal mucosal tissue.