Nasopharngeal carcinoma: a clinical and pathological study of 112 cases seen in Singapore during the period February 1953 to April 1955

Abstract

From the study of the histology of the tumours in this series it has become evident that one continuous pathological process is at work. It does not appear justifiable to regard transitional cell carcinoma or lymphoepithelioma as separate tumours but rather as varients of one consistent histological picture. Because of the squamous characters of the more differentiated tumours of this series and of the regularity with which their transition to the less differentiated forms can be traced they are all regarded as squamous cell carcinoma of varying degrees of differentiation. The absence of cornification in any of these tumours is explained by the normal squamous epithelium lining the nasopharynx which is of a stratified type which does not cornify.