Epidemiological and Clinical Profile of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Indonesia: A Nationwide Descriptive Study

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Sagung Rai Indrasari, Yussy Afriani Dewi, Nova Audrey Luetta, Achmad Chusnu Romdhoni, I Gde Ardika Nuaba, Cita Herawati, et al.

 
For citation: Indrasari SR, Dewi YA, Luetta NA, Romdhoni AC, Nuaba IGA, Herawati C, Djufri NI, Soehartono, Nasution II, Herdini C, Selvianti, Syamsu S, Danil F, Rahman S, Yulvina, Sulaksana MA, Adham M, Khoiria AH, Yudistira D, Anugrahani A. Epidemiological and Clinical Profile of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Indonesia: A Nationwide Descriptive Study. International Journal of Biomedicine. 2025;15(3):517-522. doi:10.21103/Article15(3)_OA9
 
Originally published September 5, 2025

Abstract: 

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is now the fifth leading cause of cancer death in Indonesia, with most cases diagnosed at advanced stages due to nonspecific early symptoms. This study describes the epidemiological, clinical, and pathological profiles of NPC in Indonesia.
Methods and Results: This descriptive study used data from the NPC-Indonesia registry between January 2019 and December 2022. It included newly diagnosed NPC patients who visited ENT outpatient clinics and underwent treatment—either single or multimodality regimens—at 16 participating hospitals. The data was collected from the NPC-Indonesia registry data system. Whole data was extracted and sorted into excel sheet, only those cases with confirmed diagnosis and treatment of cancer were analyzed according to age, sex, home province, chief complaint, histopathology subtypes, staging, treatment modality, response to therapy, and distant metastasis.
A total of 545 patients 67.7% male and 32.3% female were recorded. The average age was 48 years, ranging from 4 to 80. The most common chief complaint was a neck lump. Most patients were from West Java and were presented with advanced-stage disease. The majority had WHO type 3 histology.
Conclusion: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Indonesia commonly presents at an advanced stage, likely due to nonspecific early symptoms. This study is the first large-scale research providing comprehensive NPC data in Indonesia, emphasizing the need for improved early detection and public health awareness.

Keywords: 
nasopharyngeal carcinoma • epidemiology • histopathology • metastasis
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Received July 3, 2025.
Accepted August 10, 2025.
©2025 International Medical Research and Development Corporation.