POLYPOID NASAL MASSES;

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is firstly to signify the occurrence ofunusual nasal polypoid masses by analyzing their histopathological spectrum and to be on thelookout for them. Secondly to highlight the fact that nasal polypoid masses should not be takenlightly as they may be representing an underlying grave pathological process meriting urgentmedical advice. Study Design: Retrospective/observational study. Setting: Charsada TeachingHospital affiliated with Jinnah Medical College Peshawar. Period: March 2010 to March 2015.Methods: In this study, all the surgical pathology cases with clinical diagnosis of nasal polypswith no suspicion for malignancy were retrieved from archives of Charsada Teaching Hospitalaffiliated with Jinnah Medical College Peshawar. The slides and diagnoses of all the retrievedcases were reviewed. The number of cases for each diagnostic category were recorded andanalyzed according to the non-neoplastic, neoplastic and their subcategories. Results: Thereview of cases from March 2010- March 2015 showed that most of the polypoid masses werenon-neoplastic, while only few were neoplastic. Of all the non-neoplastic masses, inflammatory/allergic polyps were much more common followed bypolyps with fungal infections andeosinophilic angiocentric fibrosis. Amongst the neoplastic masses, benign tumors were morecommon than the malignant. The benign masses comprised of hemangioma, angiofibroma,inverted papilloma and schwannoma. The malignant nasal masses constituted one case eachof polypoid extraskeletal Ewings sacoma, plasmacytoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and renalcell carcinoma. Conclusions: Awareness about the occurrence of the usual and unusualentities in the nasal cavities needs to be increased. Important diagnostic categories requiringurgent management include polyps with invasive fungal infection, inverted papilloma and allmalignant cases. Therefore, all unilateral nasal cavity masses with frequent epistaxis, pain orbone erosions should be submitted for histopathological examination.