What is nasopharyngeal carcinoma?
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a malignant tumor with strong growth capacity, which can divide and proliferate without restriction, and can secrete tissue-dissolving substances and can invade and dissolve normal tissues like roots into the earth. It is a malignant tumor that can invade and dissolve normal tissues like roots into the soil, and even compress adjacent organs and tissues. When the mass develops to a certain stage, you will feel nasal congestion, nasal water with blood, ears buzzing all the time, headache, lumps in the neck, and even sometimes see one finger as two, as well as symptoms such as general failure, which can seriously threaten the patient’s life.
Main symptoms
One common feature of nasopharyngeal cancer before diagnosis is that the symptoms mostly occur unilaterally. The common symptoms are.
1.Side nasal congestion and snotty blood.
2.unilateral hearing loss or tinnitus.
3, unilateral headache.
4, unilateral painless lump in the upper neck.
Anyone with the above symptoms, especially those with four “unilateral symptoms” at the same time, should immediately go to the quintuplex of a hospital and ask the doctor to perform routine and careful nasopharyngeal examination, and if necessary, X-ray, CT, nasopharyngeal fiberscopy, pathological biopsy, etc., in order to make a clear diagnosis at an early stage.
Why do we have nasopharyngeal cancer?
This question has been studied all over the world and there is no satisfactory answer yet. Over the years, the medical profession has put forward extremely rich and valuable materials through careful observation, which can be summarized into two categories of internal and external causes. Endogenous factors include mental factors, nutritional factors, endocrine factors, immune mechanism disorders and genetic factors, etc. External factors include chemical factors, physical factors and biological factors, etc.
The occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma should not emphasize the role of external factors to the neglect of the leading role of internal factors. For example, it was thought that alcoholism, kerosene lighting and nasal diseases might be related to the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but after investigation and analysis, this opinion was not confirmed. For example, certain chemical substances can cause cancer only after repeated exposure to a certain amount and for a long period of time. In addition, the external causes of cancer are diverse, and the same tumor can be caused by different external factors, or may be formed by the long-term synergistic effect of several factors. Therefore, external and internal factors, local and overall factors should be dialectically unified. Especially, those internal factors that can determine the role of external carcinogenic factors should be studied in depth. For example, the incidence rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Guangdong is higher than that of the local population even after they have emigrated overseas for several generations, which cannot be ignored without considering the importance of genetic factors in the etiology of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
What kind of treatment is used?
There are 3 major types of treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, namely chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery. Some patients use only one method, while others have to use a combination of multiple treatments. When you encounter the same disease as yours with different treatment methods, don’t think that it may be because your disease is serious, this idea is wrong. This is because doctors need to consider many factors, including your age, general health, type of cancer, site of occurrence, size, personal tolerance, and whether it has spread to the lymph glands in the neck, before they can decide on the most suitable treatment for you.
Sometimes you may run into different doctors with different recommendations. If you have any questions about your treatment, ask your doctor and nurse and they will be happy to help you. You can also make a list of questions and invite friends and family to go with you to your doctor, which is often helpful.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to treat cancer cells while minimizing the damage to normal cells. Radiation therapy may be used alone or in conjunction with surgery or chemotherapy to treat nasopharyngeal cancer.
Radiation is a type of radiation emitted by a special mechanical device that cannot be detected by the naked eye, but the extremely small photons and particles it emits can penetrate the body like a gunshot. Radiation therapy, referred to as “radiotherapy”, is commonly known as “electrotherapy”.
Currently, radiotherapy is still one of the main methods of treating malignant tumors. There are several types of radiotherapy, such as X-ray, electron and r-ray, and different types of treatment machines, but they all have the same effect on cancer treatment. It is hard for us to say which treatment machine is better. Your doctor will choose the type of treatment machine that is most suitable for you according to your condition.
Things to do before radiation therapy and things to note.
To ensure that you get the maximum benefit from radiation therapy, the entire course of treatment must be carefully planned and many factors must be taken into consideration. Before radiotherapy, the doctor will ask you to do some routine blood sampling, ultrasound, X-ray, CT and oral examination, especially CT, which can clearly see the site of disease and help to determine the scope of radiation. Oral examination is mainly to see if there is tooth decay, if there is, it should be removed first before radiation treatment.
When these necessary examinations are done, the doctor will lead you to the simulator room of radiotherapy department for positioning, then you should bring the CT film with the doctor. Then, together with the radiation therapy technician, the doctor will ask you to lie down for a thorough treatment plan. After positioning, you will also be required to send the radiation treatment plan sheets to the physics room for counting. Only when the dose and number of each radiation treatment is determined is the plan considered complete. Then you can go to the radiotherapy department for radiotherapy treatment from Monday to Friday every week according to the prescribed time.
When positioning, some people will draw lines directly on the skin for financial reasons. The disadvantage of this method is that if the skin is sweaty or if the scribed part is accidentally wiped off when washing the face, the original positioning cannot be accurately determined, which affects the effectiveness of the treatment. Another more important point is that marking on the skin affects the appearance to a great extent. With the development of science, nowadays, radiotherapy does not necessarily have to be done on the skin, but can be ordered as a facial film. The face film is positioned by first obtaining an impression of your face with a booklet of film, removing it and marking the area to be treated with radiation on the film, and later, each time you have radiation therapy, you only need to carry this face film. However, as people become thin or obese, the area marked on this film will not be suitable for them. Therefore, the best method now is to use laser positioning.
Each time the radiation treatment is given, the nasopharynx or cervical lymph nodes must be precisely aligned. Therefore, it is important to keep the head and neck still while lying down. Once you are ready, radiation treatment can be performed. The radiation therapy technician will carefully lay you down in a position pre-designed by the bed to make you feel comfortable. You will be left alone in the room during the few minutes of treatment, but you will be able to talk through the intercom to the radiation technician who will be observing you from outside. The radiation treatment will not cause you pain, similar to an X-ray, but it will take a little longer. You will have to lie still for a few minutes while the treatment takes place.
Side effects of radiation therapy
Within a few days of starting radiation therapy, you may notice swelling in your head and face. Please rest assured that this is not a symptom of disease progression, but a result of tissue edema caused by the body’s inability to adapt to such intense radiation.
After two or three weeks of treatment, your mouth and throat will become inflamed and ulcers will occur, making it difficult for you to swallow food. Therefore, it is more important to keep your mouth clean by rinsing it regularly every day. During this period, it is best for you to eat foods such as porridge, flour, noodles, etc. Do not smoke, drink alcohol and eat spicy foods. Drinking liquids such as tea, milk and water will keep your mouth moist. Your stomatitis will recover quickly after radiation therapy is over.
During radiation therapy, many people will lose their sense of taste or feel that all food has only an astringent taste. In this case, the sense of taste will slowly return a few months after the end of radiation therapy.
You may notice that you do not salivate as much after treatment as you did before, and often feel dry mouth, which will also return a few months after treatment. People with dry mouth need to take care of their teeth and brush them with a soft-bristled toothbrush.
Despite the side effects of dry mouth and difficulty swallowing during treatment, it is important to eat as much as possible, as people who are well nourished will heal easily. However, if you don’t want to eat because of mouth pain, your doctor will prescribe a liquid containing anesthetic to rinse your mouth before eating, then you will be able to eat an occupation. If this method doesn’t work, the only way is to give fluids for nutrition.
From the third week of treatment, the skin on the treated part will gradually become red, dry, scaly or inflamed, and in some cases, the skin may even break and run. In this case, you should not wash the affected area yourself during the treatment period, nor should you use talcum powder and lotion or other medications on the affected area. When the skin is dry and not running, the doctor will recommend that you apply ice chips and talcum powder topically to reduce the symptoms of itchy, red skin. If the skin is inflamed, the nurse will help you clean the pus and apply some ulcer powder to speed healing. The doctor will also prescribe some medications for you to apply to the affected skin, such as Viscum, Rehabin, etc. However, no matter what kind of medication you apply, it must be wiped off before radiation treatment is feasible to avoid affecting the efficacy of the treatment.
Radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma rarely causes hair loss, and even if it happens, the hair loss is very limited. Only hairs that are very close to the persecuted tumor site will be permanently shed. All other shedding is temporary and will grow back within a few weeks after treatment.
Fatigue is also a common side effect of radiation therapy, but it is usually not severe. You need to try to get as much time off as possible during treatment, especially for those who have to travel long distances to and from the hospital each day.
Nausea and vomiting are uncommon, and if they do occur, you can ask your doctor to prescribe anti-emetic medication. Music therapy can have a significant effect on reducing the side effects of radiation or chemotherapy and relieving nervousness.
These side effects of radiation therapy are uncomfortable and discouraging, but fortunately they are temporary and will fade away as the treatment ends, and it may be helpful to know this.
Recovery issues after radiation therapy
After about a month or so of two consecutive radiation treatments, there are many people who experience dramatic weight loss, which is due to many reasons. Since the radiation does not disappear from the body immediately after your radiation treatment, it remains in the body for about 1 month. Therefore, it is still necessary to insist on gargling during this period. You can prepare your own light salt water for gargling 4~5 times a day, or you can ask your doctor to prescribe some mouthwash.
As the mucous membrane of nasopharynx is congested and swollen after irradiation, patients often have dry nasal mucosa, nasal congestion, increased nasal secretion, sticky, and serious cases may affect rest and sleep. Clear cod liver oil or compound peppermint oil can be used to protect the nasal mucosa by self-nasal drops 3-4 times a day. It is best to learn to properly grasp the simple nasopharyngeal flush North Korea device flushing method and commonly used liquid. For more information about this, ask your doctor or nurse and they will give you a satisfactory answer.
Radiation field skin should not be scrubbed with soap or coarse towels in hot water. Avoid direct sunlight when going out. When there is peeling, do not tear or scratch with your hands. After radiotherapy, it can cause dysfunction of the head and neck and jaw and temporal joints, and sometimes there are difficulties in opening the mouth and limited neck movement. In order to prevent these complications, during radiotherapy, you should do some appropriate exercises, such as deep breathing, outdoor walking, and slow rotational movements of the neck back and forth and left and right, according to your physical condition. After radiotherapy, do mouth opening exercises, such as holding a small round plastic bottle or smooth small round wood in your mouth, and massage the jaw-temporal joint. After treatment, you can also go to a park or an open space outside and play tai chi or move your muscles. The doctor will prescribe some necessary tests, such as X-ray, blood sampling, CT, etc. to understand the whole body condition.
As for the diet, you should avoid spicy and irritating foods, such as chili peppers and fried foods. During radiotherapy, you can drink more water, such as American ginseng tea, carrot and horseshoe water, etc. American ginseng has the effect of clearing heat and replenishing qi, so it can be sliced into water or used as an ingredient in soup.
Chemotherapy (abbreviated as “chemotherapy”)
Chemotherapy is a method that uses anti-cancer drugs to kill cancer cells and disrupt the reproduction of cancer cells. Chemotherapy is often used in conjunction with the flow of drugs through the blood vessels throughout the body.
Most of the chemotherapy treatments involve infusion of fluids into the whole body through blood vessels, but sometimes oral drugs can be used, which are absorbed through the intestine and then injected into the bloodstream while perfusing various parts of the body. Each session lasts only a few days, followed by a break of about 2 weeks to allow you to recover from the side effects of the treatment. The number of sessions depends on the type of cancer you have and how you respond to the drugs.
Chemotherapy can be administered on an outpatient basis, but most inpatient treatment is required whenever possible to allow for better monitoring of the effects and to prevent complications.
What should I do before chemotherapy?
Prior to chemotherapy, your doctor will ask you to undergo some necessary physical examinations, such as blood tests for biochemical indicators, routine blood tests, electrocardiogram, and ultrasound of the appropriate areas. As long as such indicators reach normal values before chemotherapy can be administered. During this period, you should pay more attention to your diet, keep your body and mind relaxed, pay attention to rest and prevent colds. This is because if you have an infection and inflammation in any part of your body, chemotherapy will be delayed until your body temperature returns to normal. In this way, there is a risk of delaying the treatment. You also do not have to be afraid of the side effects of chemotherapy; modern medicine is constantly evolving and your doctor will assist you in solving these problems. If you can let go of your mind and accept it openly, you will surely get through all the difficulties.
What are the side effects of chemotherapy?
During chemotherapy, the anti-cancer drugs not only work on the cancer cells in the body, but also on the normal cells, especially the blood cells. Therefore, it will temporarily reduce the number of normal blood cells, especially white blood cells. With fewer cells in the blood, you will be more prone to inflammation and feel tired easily. Therefore, during chemotherapy, you should avoid walking around in crowded places and preferably rest in your ward or at home. And the doctor will test your blood regularly and give you blood transfusion if necessary to treat anemia. All patients who are hospitalized will have their temperature taken every day at noon to monitor the change of temperature. However, if you have chemotherapy as an outpatient, you need to take your temperature even more closely when you go home and notify your doctor if you find a fever so that antibiotics can be administered to fight infection.
Other side effects of chemotherapy include nausea and vomiting, for which your doctor will prescribe anti-emetic drugs. Some anti-cancer drugs can cause soreness in the mouth and even ulcers. At this point, it is important to rinse your mouth regularly. The nurse will teach you how to clean your mouth properly. If you have an ulcer that affects your appetite, your doctor will advise you to rinse your mouth with anesthetic before you eat or take intravenous nutrient supplements. Of course, the best way is to be able to eat, digest and absorb your own food, which will help the ulcers to heal. During chemotherapy, if you feel you have no appetite, you can change your regular meals to nutritious, high-calorie beverages such as milk, soup, etc.
Hair loss is also one of the common side effects of chemotherapy drugs. Fortunately, this will not last long. Once the treatment is over, the hair grows back quickly and you don’t have to worry about it. People who have lost their hair can usually wear a wig or hat to cover the area of hair loss.
What to expect after chemotherapy
After completing chemotherapy, your doctor will ask you to return to the hospital for regular checkups and x-rays. This usually lasts for several years. If you notice any problems or new symptoms during this time, it is important to notify your doctor as soon as possible. You should also take rest and do what physical exercise you can, such as practicing tai chi. If you are physically weak, you can also consult a Chinese medicine practitioner to regulate the balance of yin and yang in your body.
Rehabilitation guidance
1.Take the medication as prescribed by the doctor, if it is a special medication your doctor will make special instructions.
2, regular review: generally the first review is one month after discharge, the second is three months, the third is six months, if there is no discomfort, then return to the hospital once a year for a review. However, if the following problems occur, such as headache, snot and blood, buzzing in the ears, lumps in the neck again, general bone pain, chest pain, etc., you should consult a doctor at any time.
3.Rinse your mouth more often, drink more water, and keep your mouth clean frequently to prevent oral infection and inflammation.
4.Practice mouth opening exercise to prevent difficulty in opening the mouth in the future by: opening the mouth to the maximum and insisting on about 200 times a day for two years.
5.Continue to keep the skin of the radiation field clean and dry, do not expose to sunlight, do not scratch with hands, do not scrub with soap for six months after discharge.
6.No tooth extraction for one year, or preferably for three years if allowed, which can prevent radioactive osteomyelitis.
7, pay attention to rest, work and rest, such as conditions allow full rest for three months is appropriate, avoid physical labor, participate in appropriate physical activities, such as walking, playing tai chi, qigong, etc.
8.Prevent colds: pay attention to keeping warm, and go to public places during the recovery period.
9, keep a relaxed mood, listen to light music, read books, newspapers, etc.
10, diet should pay attention to
a, light diet: low fat, low cholesterol, high carbohydrate, high vitamin diet.
b. Less and more meals: 5-7 meals/day, 1-2 taels/meal, soft and easy to digest, mainly fresh milk, eggs, fish, meat and soy milk.
c. Avoid stimulating foods: smoke, sprinkle, coffee, strong tea, curry, vinegar, spicy, coarse and hard, fried foods.
11. During cancer treatment, surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can occur fatigue and various side effects, and patients are weak and lack of energy, so they should not have sex.
After the cancer treatment is over, the condition is stable and physical strength is gradually recovered, so it is reasonable for the patient to resume sex life. Cancer will not be infected by sexual life, nor will it recur due to sexual activity. However, it must be moderate. The so-called moderate, is when the sexual activity is over, the self does not feel fatigue and exhaustion, if the next day of sex brings dizziness and swelling, waist and leg weakness, poor spirit and other uncomfortable phenomena, it should be moderated.