Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.

Abstract

Four patients with nasopharyngeal angiofibroma and familial adenomatous polyposis are reported here. Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma was 25 times more frequent in our patient population with familial adenomatous polyposis than in an age-matched hospital population. The association of these two rare conditions suggests that nasopharyngeal angiofibroma is an extracolonic manifestation of adenomatous polyposis. In addition, somatic mutation of the adenomatous polyposis coli gene, which causes adenomatous polyposis when mutated in the germline, could play a role in the pathogenesis of sporadic nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.