Nasopharyngeal cancer is known as the “Guangdong cancer”, with a high incidence in Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing and other regions. Typical symptoms include nasal blood, nasal congestion, hearing loss and enlarged cervical lymph nodes. This is because 95% of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is low differentiated squamous carcinoma, which has high sensitivity to radiation; secondly, since the nasopharynx is located in the middle of the skull, the site is hidden and surrounded by important organs and tissues, cranial nerves and blood vessels, surgery is very likely to damage the surrounding tissues, which is dangerous and difficult to achieve the purpose of radical cure. Therefore, nasopharyngeal carcinoma should be treated with radiotherapy first and supplemented with chemotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine.
So, what issues should patients pay attention to in the process of radiotherapy?
First of all, before radiotherapy, patients should follow the doctor’s instructions, check and treat oral diseases, and remove dental caries, so as to avoid the decrease of body resistance after radiotherapy, and the extraction of teeth may lead to bacteria entering the body from the dental bed, causing osteomyelitis and osteonecrosis.
In addition to this, radiotherapy patients should also cooperate to do the following: 1. Lie still for half an hour after each radiotherapy, and pay attention to drink more water.
2, pay attention to the protection of radiation field skin, underwear should be soft, wide and moisture-absorbent; avoid wiping the irradiated field skin with soap and coarse towels; avoid hot and cold stimulation, do not use hot water bags or hot compresses locally; wear a hat to cover when going out in summer to prevent direct sunlight.
3, irradiation for about 10-20 days, can successively appear oral mucosa edema, congestion, pain, reduced saliva secretion, dry mouth and other symptoms, patients should keep the mouth clean, use Dobelle’s liquid gargle, about 10 times a day; brush teeth with a soft-haired toothbrush, until the oral mucosa is normal.
4.Chinese medicine nose flush. According to the patient’s specific condition, choose the appropriate herbal medicine form to flush the nose daily to improve nasal congestion and mucous membrane damage in the nasopharynx, etc.
5.In order to prevent the stiffness and dysfunction of temporomandibular joint, we should do mouth opening exercise more than 300 times a day consistently.
6.Rinse the nasopharynx according to the situation to keep the local cleanliness and improve the sensitivity of radiotherapy.
7.A high protein, high vitamin, easy to digest diet is recommended, avoid overheating, too cold, and hard, rough food. Eat more vegetables and fruits.
8, do not smoke and drink, avoid eating spicy, hot, fried and fatty products.
9, the combination of disease and evidence, with the nourishment of yin to support the right to clear the heat and detoxification of Chinese medicine conditioning, reduce toxicity and increase the effectiveness.
Self-care during treatment needs to be continued after completing radiotherapy, at least for a period of time, such as continuing to protect the skin in the irradiated area until all symptoms have disappeared. Do not try to rub off the marks on the treatment area, as these marks do not wash off easily and can irritate the skin and cause damage if they are washed off in a hurry. After radiotherapy, the patient’s physique has decreased to a certain extent, so there should be sufficient sleep and rest, increase nutrition, keep a relaxed mood, avoid strain, and at the same time, increase outdoor activities appropriately, such as walking, visiting parks, playing tai chi, doing radio exercises, etc., in order to strengthen the physique and improve the body’s ability to resist diseases.