NPC facts

NASOPHARYNGEAL carcinoma or NPC is a disease in which a malignant tumour (cancer) grows in the nasopharynx. The nasopharynx is a small space, about 4 cm cube in size, lying behind the nasal cavities and hemmed in by the base of the skull on top and the soft palate below. The nasopharynx leads to the nostrils in the front, while an opening on each side leads to the ears. Due to its small size and inaccessibility in the past, clinicians had termed the nasopharynx a “blind spot”, “hidden cavity” or “unknown region”.  

The site of origin of all NPC, a breakthrough discovery, was established by Prof U. Prasad of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur in 1979, as being at the Fossa of Rosenmuller (FOR), a precise area along the lateral wall of the nasopharynx. Earlier to this, in 1974, he also found out that the cells from which NPC developed were the epithelial cells lining the FOR.