ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Epistaxis is extremely common in children. Although rare, the presence of an intranasal mass as a cause of bleeding should be ruled out in patients with recurrent or massive epistaxis. We present a patient whose recurrent nose-bleeding had been due to a nasopharyngeal mass. METHODS: Case report with relevant literature review. RESULTS: A 15-year-old girl with a history of sudden posterior nasal bleeding was diagnosed with thyroid-like low-grade nasopharyngeal papillary adenocarcinoma of the nasopharynx. A type II nasopharyngeal endoscopic resection was performed with an excellent outcome at 30-months follow-up. The literature review on the topic disclosed only five other paediatric cases, none of which presented with epistaxis. CONCLUSIONS: Recurrent epistaxis may infer the presence of nasopharyngeal malignant neoplasms, even in children. To our knowledge, this represents the sixth case in the literature of a paediatric low-grade nasopharyngeal adenocarcinoma and the first presenting with massive epistaxis. The possibility of such a finding should be kept in mind when evaluating children with massive epistaxis.
