The etiology of nasopharyngeal cancer and its management.

In dealing with the nasopharyngeal cancer problem, we find a fascinating pathologic entity, which acts in a varied fashion depending on the ethnic origin of the patient with a possible genetic basis for its etiology. More recently we have become aware of the possible etiology, i.e., the role of the Epstein-Barr virus in cancer of the nasopharynx. The earlier the diagnosis is made, in view of the present radiotherapeutic advances, the greater the possibility of increasing the cure rate in this disease.