Metastases from nasopharyngeal carcinoma in an unusual site

Eight patients with distant metastases from nasopharyngeal carcinoma are presented. In four the first evidence of distant metastases and generalised disease was a deposit in the soft tissue of the forehead. In seven of the eight cases the primary tumour at presentation had been a locally advanced tumour involving bone or cervical lymph nodes, either bilateral or fixed. Seven of the eight patients were under 25 years of age at the time of presentation. The distribution of metastatic carcinoma of the nasopharynx in some other recorded series is discussed.