Sensitivity and specificity of narrow-band imaging nasoendoscopy compared to histopathology results in patients with suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a disease which is prevalent in developing countries like Indonesia. There were 164 new cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the ear, nose, and throat (ENT) oncology outpatient clinic of the Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital in 2014, and 142 cases in 2015. Unfortunately, almost all of these cases presented at an advanced stage. The success of nasopharyngeal carcinoma treatment is largely determined by the stage when patients are diagnosed; it is critical to diagnose NPC as early as possible. Narrow-band imaging (NBI) is an endoscopic instrument with a light system that can improve the visualization of blood vessels of mucosal epithelial malignant tumors. NBI is expected to help clinicians to assess whether a lesion is malignant or not; to do so, it is important to know the value of sensitivity and specificity. This study is a cross-sectional form of a diagnostic test which was performed in the outpatient clinic of the ENT Head and Neck Surgery Department for the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, from January to June 2016, and involved 56 subjects. Patients with a nasopharyngeal mass discovered by physical examination or imaging, and a suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma were included as a subject. An NBI examination and biopsy was performed locally. Based on this research, NBI could be used as a screening tool for nasopharyngeal carcinoma with high sensitivity (100%), but with a low specificity result (6.7%).