Hoarseness after chemotherapy for lung cancer may be caused by acute pharyngolaryngitis and laryngeal nerve injury.
1. Acute pharyngolaryngitis: the side effect of chemotherapy drugs damages the mucous membrane of larynx, leading to temporary laryngeal mucous membrane edema; in addition, after chemotherapy, patients’ immunity decreases, which is easy to secondary infection and inflammation of larynx, and then the vocal cords will be affected, resulting in hoarseness of voice.
This situation can be considered symptomatic anti-inflammatory treatment, the use of pharyngitis tablets, lubricating tablets, etc., while talking less, to avoid overwork of the vocal cords. After medication and care, most patients can gradually return to normal pronunciation.
2. Injury of recurrent laryngeal nerve: Lung cancer lesions may directly invade the recurrent laryngeal nerve, resulting in fixation of the vocal cords and causing hoarseness of voice; it may also be the case that lung cancer patients have lymph node metastasis, and the enlarged lymph nodes locally compress the recurrent laryngeal nerve, resulting in hoarseness of voice.
In addition, some chemotherapeutic drugs, such as vincristine and paclitaxel, may damage the peripheral nerve function, and the long-term use of the drugs may cause damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve of the vagus nerve branch, resulting in hoarseness of voice.
When laryngeal recurrent nerve damage causes hoarseness, it is recommended to use appropriate nutritional nerve drugs, such as methylcobalamin tablets, neurotrophic factor, and so on. At the same time, surgery and radiotherapy should be carried out for metastatic lesions.
When hoarseness is caused by chemotherapy for lung cancer, the cause of the disease should be clarified in time, and treatment and treatment should be carried out according to doctor’s instructions.