[Cytological diagnosis and cytohistological correlations of malignant epithelial tumors of the rhinopharynx].

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma frequently has as its first manifestation cervical lymph node metastases before local symptoms appear. In the Instituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura del Tumori of Milan, routine nasopharyngeal cytology has been carried out on these patients. Positive cytology in 55 cases of undifferentiated carcinoma (83.6%) and positive cytology of biopsies was obtained in 87.3%. The combination of cytology and histology gave a yield of 98.2% positive cases. For squamous carcinomas positive cytology was less frequently obtained, the same as for malignant lymphomas. The cytology of undifferentiated carcinoma has such marked morphological characters that it is very easy to diagnose it in a very high percentage of cases. In the differential diagnosis cytologically it is necessary to bear in mind other neoplasias, in particular some of the malignant lymphomas.