Unilateral nasal mass beyond 4th decade: A comprehensive clinicopathological study

Unilateral nasal mass may be a common presentation in children and young adults, and the majority of them are inflammatory polyps. But as the age advances, unilateral nasal complaints should alert the physician to the possibility of an underlying neoplastic mass lesion. To study the etiopathology and clinical features of unilateral nasal mass in patients above 40 years of age. The study was conducted in the department of otorhinolaryngology, Tezpur Medical College & Hospital. A total of 27 patients with unilateral nasal mass who are above 40 years of age are included in the study. The clinical features, radiological findings, and histological findings of all the patients were evaluated. Among the 27 patients, 14 had non-neoplastic lesions compared to 13 neoplastic lesions. Inflammatory polyp was the most common non-neoplastic pathology, whereas inverted papilloma was the most common neoplastic lesion. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma was the commonest malignancy detected in the study. Though inflammatory polyp constitutes the majority of cases of unilateral nasal mass, there is a considerable number of neoplastic lesions, especially when considered age above 40 years. Therefore, one should not directly jump into the conclusion of inflammatory polyp when an elderly patient presents with unilateral nasal mass; rather, a thorough diagnostic protocol should be employed to rule out any neoplastic lesion. The diagnosis of inflammatory polyp should be a diagnosis by exclusion only after other possible causes are excluded.