Examination of nasopharyngeal epithelium with contact endoscopy.

Primarily to evaluate the potential of contact endoscopy, the nasopharyngeal mucosa were examined using contact microscopy. With contact endoscopy it has been possible to visualize (60 x, 150 x ) the superficial cell layers of the nasopharyngeal epithelium, previously stained with methylene blue in vivo and in situ. Normal nasopharyngeal epithelium (20 cases) and cases with pathology (18 cases of chronic nasopharyngitis, 5 cases of nasopharyngeal cyst, and 57 cases of poorly differentiated squamous carcinoma) were assessed with contact endoscopy. The results showed that contact endoscopy can offer clear morphology and arrangement of the epithelial cells of the superficial layers and microvascular networks, such as the size and shapes of the cells or nuclei, nucleus/cytoplasm ratio, karyokinesis, etc. Our study indicated that contact endoscopy can permit the mapping of cellular alteration over mucosa and constitutes a new method of monitoring a high-risk population or precancerous lesions of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.