Evaluation of Patients with Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma Referring to Ahvaz Imam Khomeini Hospital during Ten Years

Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is a rare, highly vascular, benign, locally aggressive tumor, affecting boys of adolescent age. Classically it accounts for 0.05% of all head and neck tumors. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of signs and symptoms, age, sex and its frequency of recurrence in ENT department of Imam Khomeini hospital, Ahvaz, Iran.Subjects and In this retrospective-descriptive study, all of patients admitted with nasopharyngeal angiofibroma between 1996 -2005 in Ahvaz Imam Khomeini hospital, were analyzed statistically. Of 24 cases found, 23 patients (95.7%) were males. The mean age of patients was 17 years. Nasal bleeding (88.9%) and subsequently nasal obstruction (83.3%) were the most common and important initial presenting symptoms. The most common clinical findings were nasal mass (88.9%), otitis media and proptosis (11.1%).Tumor recurrence was 30.04% which occurred within 3 to 12 months (mean 8.5 months) after operation. Angiofibroma was mainly seen in males (95.7%), Obtaining a detailed history and observation of important symptoms such as nasal bleeding and nasal obstruction in young male adolescents are essential for early diagnosis, prevention of extension and its complication of this tumor.