WHAT IS THROAT CANCER?
Signs of throat cancer are often confused with other diseases such as tumors in the nose or neck, sore throat, difficulty speaking, hearing loss …
Dr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital of University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, said nasopharyngeal cancer is a rare type in head – face – neck cancer. The disease comes from epithelial cells of this region with uncontrolled growth, invading surrounding structures, spreading to the lymph nodes in the upper neck and even to other organs of the body (di base). Nasopharyngeal cancer is twice as common in men in women.
Factors that increase the likelihood of developing the disease are alcohol, smoking, chronic viral infections, a low-fiber diet, and a family of people with throat cancer, their relative is more likely likely to get this type of cancer. Other risks make the disease worse, such as immunodeficiency, occupational exposure such as radiation, poor oral hygiene, working in areas where wood dust or formaldehyde chemicals are present.
According to Dr. Thanh, recent studies show that when analyzing secretions of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, there is HPV (the virus causing cervical cancer in women). If you have oral sex, if your partner has HPV, you are about 90% more likely to get the disease. This is also the cause of increased throat cancer in recent years.
One of the first and most common symptoms of the disease is a painless bump in the upper neck. Blurred or double vision, ear infections, pain or numbness in the face, noise in the ears, ringing in the ears, difficulty opening your mouth, nose bleeds, nasal congestion, sore throat, etc.
“If you have some of the above symptoms, you need to see a doctor. Only experienced medical staff can detect throat cancer,” said Dr. Thanh.
Although the symptoms are easily confused with other ear, nose and throat conditions, careful attention can still tell the difference because the common point of nasopharyngeal cancer is that the signs of disease often arise at the same time. one side. When the disease reaches the stage of metastases (terminal stage), the symptoms will spread quickly and become more obvious such as enlarged lymph nodes and spread to other places, loss of feeling in the throat, runny nose accompanied with blood, severe headache, reduced hearing loss, visual disturbances …
Dr. Thanh said that the early stage of throat cancer has very faint and difficult to detect symptoms. Symptoms only manifest when the disease has reached an advanced stage and the quality of life of the patient will greatly decline. The best way to detect early disease is to screen cancer at least twice a year.
