Profile of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National Hospital, 2010

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most common head and neck malignancy in Indonesia. NPCpresents numerous challenges from non-specific signs and symptoms until lack of awareness from generalpractitioners (GP), which lead to late or missed diagnosis. Early diagnosis and prevention are proposedas the best solutions for this problem. In order to do that, we need a complete and well-managed patients’data. This study aims to reveal the demographic, clinical and histopathologic characteristics of NPC inIndonesia. A cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting medical records of all NPC patients in 2010from Otorhinolaryngology Department of Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National Hospital. The extracted datawere then analyzed to describe the problem of NPC in Indonesia. Out of 167 patients, 68.3% of the patientsare male and most of them are Sundanese and Javanese. Palpable lump in the neck is the most commoncomplaint in presentation (58.1%), followed by nasal congestion (49.1%). Salted fish consumption was themost prevalent risk factor (29.9%). Based on the histopathologic findings, 75.4% of the cases were classifiedas WHO-3 and around half of the patients (51%) were in stage IV upon diagnosis. Studying demographic andclinical characteristics of NPC patients is the first step to overcome problems caused by NPC in Indonesia.