DETERMINATION OF NONENDEMIC NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA BY IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION FOR EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS EBER1 RNA - SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY IN CERVICAL NODE METASTASES
M. Dictor et al., DETERMINATION OF NONENDEMIC NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA BY IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION FOR EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS EBER1 RNA - SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY IN CERVICAL NODE METASTASES, The Laryngoscope, 105(4), 1995, pp. 407-412
After time-consuming and costly investigations, patients with neck met
astases from an occult primary often receive unnecessarily large radia
tion volumes tb treat a possible origin in the nasopharynx, In this st
udy a colorimetric antisense Epstein-Barr early ribonucleoprotein 1 (E
BER1) oligonucleotide probe specific for Epstein-Barr virus RNA was hy
bridized in situ to metastatic tissue obtained from 18 nasopharyngeal,
54 oral and pharyngeal, and 12 occult carcinomas derived from an unse
lected population. Ah 16 nonkeratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NP
Cs) were positive for EBER1, Both cases of keratinizing NPC and all 54
other metastases were negative, A single positive case of occult carc
inoma indicated its origin from NPC. In retrospect, 7 patients with oc
cult carcinoma had received unnecessary treatment with irradiation to
the nasopharynx. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma appears to be a less common
origin of occult carcinoma than previously considered. In the proper c
linicopathologic context EBER1 in situ hybridization (EBER1-ISH) allow
s exclusion of NPC with a high degree of accuracy. Thus unnecessarily
large radiation volumes and their adverse sequelae may be reduced in t
he treatment of occult carcinoma, Conversely, a positive result of ISH
allows exclusion of further extensive diagnostic procedures,