Tonsils are located at the meeting point of digestive and respiratory tracts and have anti-bacterial and anti-viral defense functions.
Tonsil cancer mostly occurs in men, but the cause of tonsil cancer is still unclear, which may be related to long-term smoking and alcohol abuse. According to the onset of tonsil cancer, it can be roughly divided into 3 clinical types: obstructive type, with rapid growth and large tumor, which can hinder swallowing and breathing; inflammatory type, which can have recurrent inflammation and elevated temperature, similar to peri-tonsillitis, but does not easily subside completely; early metastatic type, with insignificant local lesions, but early metastasis of cervical lymph nodes, so some patients are often diagnosed by finding neck mass. Regardless of the type, patients with early stage tonsil cancer are mostly asymptomatic, while those with symptoms may show foreign body sensation in the pharynx, sore throat, neck lump, rapid enlargement of one side of tonsil may cause difficulty in swallowing and breathing, and blood in sputum may appear if the tumor surface is ulcerated.
If a patient complains of unilateral tonsillar enlargement or ulceration, accompanied by ipsilateral neck lymph node enlargement without obvious acute inflammation, the patient should consider whether it is a malignant tumor of tonsil and perform tonsil biopsy if necessary.