Early Symptoms of Oral Soft Palate Cancer

Examination of soft palate cancer reveals superficial ulcers, asymmetric movement of soft palate, and hard lesions on palpation, and biopsy is needed to confirm the diagnosis. In the early stage, only oropharyngeal discomfort is felt, and the symptoms are not obvious and easy to be ignored. When the disease progresses, there may be bad breath, sore throat, pain when swallowing, which may be radiated to the same side of the face and neck, and the application of antibiotics may reduce the symptoms temporarily. In the advanced stage, dysphagia, voice change, and soft palate fixation, destruction, perforation, and even food reflux to the nasal cavity upward and outward invasion can occur. Nasopharyngeal and parapharyngeal space may have teeth clenching, difficulty in opening the mouth, otitis media, temporal pain, and occasionally cranial nerve involvement, causing headache. On examination, neoplastic organisms can be seen in the soft palate or uvula, which usually occurs in the oral surface, the nasopharyngeal surface is almost invisible, and larger tumors in the nasopharynx can also invade the nasopharyngeal surface. Early tumor lesions are red with unclear borders.