Nasopharyngeal cancer, as the name implies, is a cancer that occurs in the nasopharynx. The nasopharynx is deep and hidden, so it is difficult to be detected when it develops. Nasopharyngeal cancer usually develops in the crypt of the pharynx and can easily enter the skull by invading the rupture hole. Sometimes, the nasopharyngeal cancer mass will compress the eustachian tube and cause hearing loss, which is easily misdiagnosed as otitis media. How to recognize the “real face” of nasopharyngeal cancer?
China has the largest number of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. There is no other cancer such as nasopharyngeal cancer, where there is such a clear difference between the East and the West. Nasopharyngeal cancer is like a Chinese disease, with almost no patients in the West. According to statistics, close to 80% of nasopharyngeal cancers in the world occur in China.
The incidence rate is again higher in the south than in the north, and the high incidence areas are concentrated in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. Zhejiang belongs to the medium-high incidence area. The development of nasopharyngeal cancer is closely related to genetics, environment and living habits, and possibly infection with EBV.
We can show you the “real face” of nasopharyngeal cancer, specifically.
1. Painless growth of cervical lymph nodes
Lymph node enlargement exists in 60%-90% of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma when they are first treated, and the lumps are located in the upper neck, growing painlessly and gradually, single or several, with hard texture. When encountering such a situation, many people would mistake it for lymph node inflammation, but the effect of lymph node swelling after anti-inflammatory treatment is often not obvious.
2. Early morning retractable blood snot
Deep inhalation and spitting of sputum with blood. Especially in the morning after waking up, sputum often has blood in it.
3.Ear stuffiness and tinnitus
This is actually not necessarily inflammation and needs to be investigated. When a tumor blocks the opening of the eustachian tube, it causes buzzing in the ear in the early stage and continues to develop causing hearing loss, which is easily misdiagnosed as otitis media. After routine treatment of otitis media, hearing loss will also occur in the later stage.
4.Facial numbness, diplopia
The tumor grows into the skull and compresses the nerve causing facial numbness and difficulty in chewing. Patients often have the sensation of facial pain allergy or ants crawling on the face. When the tumor compresses the motoneurotic, talocrine and abducens nerves, the patient will have double vision when looking to the side.
5.Long time nasal congestion
When the nasopharyngeal tumor is large and blocking the posterior nostril, patients will often feel nasal congestion. However, the nasopharyngeal congestion caused by nasopharyngeal cancer often worsens progressively and does not get better and worse like a cold.
6.Tongue extension and obliquity
In the advanced stage of nasopharyngeal cancer, cancer cells can invade the sublingual nerve, resulting in the loss of innervation of the tongue muscle, which is initially hypertrophied and later atrophied.
Nasopharyngeal cancer cannot be prevented but is best dealt with
Many cancers cannot be effectively prevented, and nasopharyngeal cancer is no different. “The key to cancer is early detection and early diagnosis. People should go to the hospital for an EBV test, or nasoscopy, if they notice a retractable blood stream, which is when there is snot retracted from the nose and spit out with blood through the mouth, or when there is an unidentified mass in the upper neck.”
How long do patients with nasopharyngeal cancer actually live? Regarding this question, nasopharyngeal carcinoma is one of the best tumors to deal with. “The prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer is very good, and radiation therapy is the most important treatment, especially with precise treatment, the 5-year survival rate can reach more than 80%.”
The quality of life of cured patients is almost indistinguishable from that of normal people. It used to be thought that the longer a cancer patient lived, the worse the quality of life. However, with the improvement of technology, these are not common anymore and patients still need to be confident.