Nasopharyngeal malignancies causing abducens palsy.

Four patients with nasopharyngeal malignancies were reported. The main symptom was diplopia due to abducens palsy in all patients; it was unilateral in three patients and bilateral in one. Skull tomographic evaluation was valuable for detecting nasopharyngeal malignancies. Histological examination of biopsy specimens from the nasopharynx confirmed these lesions to be squamous cell carcinoma in three patients and poorly differentiated carcinoma in the fourth. Radiation therapy (5,225-7,250 rads) was employed in combination with chemotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide or 5-fluorouracil. In three patients, the survival time from the onset of diplopia to death ranged from seven months to three years and three months. One patient is still alive and in good condition, four years and 10 months after the onset of diplopia.