Frequency Of Hypopharyngeal Carcinoma In Patients Presenting With Dysphagia

ObjectiveTo determine the frequency of hypo pharyngeal carcinoma in patients presenting with dysphagia.Patients and MethodsThis descriptive study was conducted at the department of Ear, Nose, Throat, Head and Neck Surgery, Postgraduate Medical Institute Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar from January 2005 to December 2010. It included 75 cases of hypopharyngeal carcinoma presenting with dysphagia. All the patients had history, examination and rigid/flexible endoscopy biopsy specimens were examined by same histopathologist. Data was analyzed using SPSS v17.ResultsOut of 75 patients, 43 were male and 32 were female, with male: female ratio of 1.34: 1.The age ranged from 34-83 years (mean 57.26+/-14.01 years). Most of the patients presented in 6th and 7th decade followed by the 5th and 4th decade of life. The main clinical features of these patients were progressive dysphagia (92%) and hoarseness (37.33%). Rigid hypopharyngoscopy was the commonest procedure of diagnosis (70.66%). Squamous cell carcinoma was the commonest (97.33%) tumour in these patients. Pyriform fossa was the commonest site of carcinoma hypopharynx (44%).ConclusionThe squamous cell carcinoma was the commonest tumour of hypopharynx in our study and pyriform fossa was the commonest site of affection in hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Hypopharyngeal carcinoma should be suspected if a male patients aged between 40 to 60 years present with dysphagia.