Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma in a tertiary centre: ten-year experience

This is a retrospective study that aimed to examine the outcomes of patients presenting with juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) at a tertiary centre in Malaysia.

The demographical data, clinical presentation, investigations as well as treatment of 13 JNA patients were reviewed and collected from the medical record office at our centre from 1995 to 2005.

All JNA patients were male and the average age at diagnosis was 17 (range 14-28) years. They presented with recurrent painless spontaneous epistaxis, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, a reduced sense of smell, snoring, headache and facial swelling. One patient was at stage I, eight were at stage II, three at stage III and one patient was at stage IV, based on the Fisch classification. Angiography showed that nine tumours were supplied by both internal maxillary arteries of the external carotid system, and only four tumours received blood supply from the ipsilateral internal maxillary artery. All 13 patients underwent primary surgical resection. The overall recurrence rate was 38.5 percent for the first procedure and 60 percent for the second procedure. No major complications occurred in this group of patients as a consequence of treatment, neither for the primary tumours nor for the recurrences.

JNA is a rare vascular benign tumour with highly exclusive persistence and recurrence, and typically affects adolescent boys. The management of JNA presents a challenge to ENT surgeons. Preoperative angiography and embolisation minimise intraoperative blood loss and the current shift in the treatment to endoscopic excision in selected lesions reduces perioperative morbidity.