Definition

Cancer that forms in tissues of the pharynx. The pharynx is the hollow, muscular tube inside the neck that starts behind the nose and opens into the larynx and esophagus. Pharyngeal cancer includes cancer of the nasopharynx (the upper part of the pharynx behind the nose), the oropharynx (the middle part of the pharynx), and the hypopharynx (the bottom part of the pharynx). Most pharyngeal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas (cancers that begin in thin, flat cells that look like fish scales under a microscope).