Nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (N.P. C.) is a rare disease amongst Cauc- asians, but occurs with alarming fre- quency amongst the southern Chinese mainly those from the Kwangtung Pro- vince of which Hong Kong is geogra- phically a part. The majority of Hong Kong's population is Chinese (98.3 per cent) and out of these, 84.3 per cent are Kwangtung in origin. The total population in 1961 was 3,079,901. The most recent census (1971) has not shown any substantial change in the population. It is estimated that the morbidity rate of the disease in Hong Kong is 124 per million of population (20). This figure is nearly 25 times that estimated by Godtfredsen for Denmark and Sweden. This paper describes a personal experience with over 500 cases of naso- pharyngeal carcinoma in the last twelve years. Sometimes two or three new eases might be seen in one week ! For this presentation, 211 cases are revie- wed to provide clinical data.