Clinicopathological features and stage at diagnosis of hypopharyngeal tumors among adult patients attending otorhinolaryngology department at Muhimbili national hospital

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Diagnosis of hypopharyngeal tumors continues to be a significant challenge due to symptomatology resemblance to other benign diseases of the upper aerodigestive tract. Studies indicate that majority of patients with hypopharyngeal tumors are diagnosed in late stages, which have a poor five-year survival rate. Therefore, it is imperative to have a clear understanding of the clinical presentation of these tumors in order to attain early diagnosis for a timely treatment initiation. Objective: To determine the clinicopathological features and stage at diagnosis of hypopharyngeal tumors among adult patients attending Otorhinolaryngology department, Muhimbili National Hospital. Methodology: This was a hospital based cross-sectional study conducted for a period of 6 months from September 2023 to March 2024, among adult patients aged 18 years and above who were diagnosed with hypopharyngeal tumor who attended Otorhinolaryngology department at Muhimbili National Hospital. This study utilized a pretested data collection tool to gather information on demographic characteristics, symptoms and signs, histology results and stage at the time of diagnosis. Data obtained in this clinical survey form was entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was employed and statistical significance was determined by Fisher Exact Test whereby P value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: This study involved 61 patients with Hypopharyngeal tumors with the age range of 35 to 69 years and the median age of 57 years (53,63). Majority were male who contributed (59.0%), with a male to female ration of 1.4:1. The age group of 51-60 years had the majority of cases (49.18%). The leading clinical feature was difficulty in swallowing contributing (98.3%) while the least common was coughing blood (19.7%). The commonest histological type of hypopharyngeal tumors of all patients (n=61) was squamous cell carcinoma. Majority of patients were diagnoses in advanced stage IVA (39.3%). vi Conclusion: This study confirms what other literatures indicate which is that majority of hypopharyngeal cancer patients are males, the most common presentation is difficulty swallowing, Squamous cell carcinoma is the commonest histological type of HPC and majority of patients are diagnosed in late stage disease.