Pharyngeal cancer arises in the pharynx (throat), the hollow tube that starts behind the nose and ends at the top of the esophagus. Tumors in this region include cancer of the nasopharynx (the upper part of the throat behind the nose), the oropharynx (the middle part of the pharynx), and the hypopharynx (the bottom part of the pharynx). The incidence of pharyngeal cancer is increasing with an estimated 20,000 people diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer each year in the United States – the majority of these cancers are now HPV associated cancers of the oropharynx.