Noradrenergic innervation of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma

The glyoxylic catecholaminergic histofluorescence method was employed on tissues from five cases of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma in order to study the sympathetic innervation present. There was no sympathetic innervation identified in tumor parenchyma while some scant noradrenergic fibers were found in the tumor border. These findings indicate that keeping a dissection surface out of tumor during planned excisions may be very important, as vessels there have more sympathetic innervation which will then result in good vessel contraction in controlling bleeding. Non-diseased nasal mucosa from each patient was used as control tissue, with its submucosa seen to be filled with noradrenergic innervation. Some noradrenergic fibers were also found to innervate the muscle layers of arterioles or venules adjacent to the sphenopalatine foramen.