[An innocuous prolonged unilateral nose blockage?]

A woman aged 35 and a man aged 59 had been suffering for years from unilateral clogged nose. Adequate diagnostic examination revealed in both of them a papilloma inversum from which a squamous carcinoma had developed. After extensive surgical resection of the tumour and irradiation, tumour progression and metastasization occurred. Both patients were given palliative chemotherapy; they died soon after the last course. Problems concerning nasal breathing are common in general practice. They are often attributed to common cold or to an allergy. Unilateral blocking of the nose is usually caused by a congenital or a traumatic deviation of the nasal septum. However, in adult patients, it may rarely be due to a tumour.