Epidemiology
Worldwide, nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a rare cancer with such a unique geographical distribution that patient ethnicity alone can point towards a diagnosis of NPC. NPC has an especially high incidence in southern China and southeast Asia (>70% of new cases overall) where the predominant form of NPC is the undifferentiated (non-keratinising) type and associated with the Epstein-Barr virus.[1][7]
Worldwide, in 2022, there were approximately 120,416 new diagnoses of and 73,476 deaths due to NPC.[8] In the US, there are estimated to be 21,640 new cases of pharyngeal cancer in 2025, with approximately 4590 deaths.[9]
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