In the last month or so, moncler outlet online he often woke up in the early morning with blood in his nose, and sometimes sucked out bloody snot from his mouth. At first he thought it was the dry weather that caused the nasal bleeding, so he didn’t pay much attention to it. However, a month down the road, this situation not only did not improve, but also aggravated. The doctor gave him a nasopharyngoscopy and took a pathological examination, which confirmed that it was nasopharyngeal cancer. This diagnosis surprised Grandpa Xiang, it was just a case of blood in the nose, which has happened to many people, how could it be nasopharyngeal cancer?
Nasopharyngeal cancer is a malignant lesion that grows in the nasopharynx. Due to the hidden location of nasopharynx, many early stage patients do not have typical symptoms, thus many early stage nasopharyngeal cancer patients are easily misdiagnosed and missed. Therefore, we should pay attention to the early “signs” of nasopharyngeal cancer. If the following clinical symptoms occur, it is better to go to ENT or oncology department of hospital in time to rule out the possibility of nasopharyngeal cancer.
1. Snot and blood: Snot and blood is one of the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which is manifested as blood in nasal snot, or blood in nasal snot sucked back from mouth, also known as blood in sputum. Blood in the nose often occurs in the morning after waking up, and when the amount of blood in the nose is small, it is often neglected by patients and mistaken for rhinitis or sinusitis, or taken as hemoptysis to the internal medicine department.
2. Neck mass: According to incomplete statistics, the rate of neck metastasis of nasopharyngeal cancer patients is 40%-85%, and about half of the patients visit the doctor because they inadvertently touch a mass on their neck. Such masses are actually enlarged lymph nodes. Swollen lymph nodes in the neck of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma are often misdiagnosed as inflammatory disease. For neck masses that do not shrink after anti-inflammatory treatment or even continue to increase rapidly, especially painless neck masses with hard texture, poor mobility and multiple fused into one another, prompt medical consultation is needed.
3.Headache: When first diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer, about 70% of patients have headache symptoms. The headache symptom of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is often manifested as migraine, pain at the top of the skull, behind the occiput or in the neck. It is often caused by the invasion of tumor tissue into the bone of skull base, spreading in the skull or involving cranial nerves.
4. Tinnitus and hearing loss: Tinnitus, ear congestion and hearing loss are also the early signs of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. This symptom is caused by the nasopharyngeal cancer neoplasm blocking or compressing the eustachian tube on the affected side. Hearing loss can also be caused by further progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma that damages the hearing nerve. Tinnitus and hearing loss are often misdiagnosed as otitis media or other diseases, resulting in delayed treatment.
5. Nasal congestion: Nasal congestion is another early manifestation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Unilateral nasal congestion may occur due to tumor blocking the posterior nostril, while bilateral nasal congestion may occur in late stage due to tumor enlargement.
The diagnosis of nasopharyngeal cancer mainly relies on indirect nasopharyngoscopy, nasopharyngeal fiberscopy, CT examination of nasopharynx or MRI examination. Among them, pathological biopsy is the “gold standard” to confirm the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal cancer. Because of the special anatomical location of nasopharynx, it is difficult to operate, and more than 80% of nasopharyngeal cancers are low-differentiated squamous carcinomas, which are more sensitive to radiation therapy. As for whether to use chemotherapy or biotherapy, it should depend on the patient’s condition. For those whose neck masses still persist after treatment, surgical clearance of lymph nodes in the neck can be considered. Since the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is mainly related to heredity, EBV infection and certain physical and chemical factors in the environment, the prevention of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is mainly based on genetic factors.
Therefore, the prevention of nasopharyngeal carcinoma mainly starts from the following aspects: (1) Do not eat or reduce the consumption of salted fish, pickled or smoked food with Cantonese flavor, do not smoke, and eat more fresh vegetables and fruits.
(2) Pay attention to physical exercise in general, enhance the immune function of the body and avoid various infections as much as possible.
(3) Actively treat moderate or severe heterogeneous hyperplasia or chemosis of the nasopharyngeal mucosa to prevent its carcinogenesis.
(4) Prevent EBV infection. If the titer of EBV serological examination continues to rise, you should receive nasopharyngoscopy once every 3 months.