Nasopharyngeal cancer is a malignant tumor originating from the nasopharynx, and it is reported that 80% of the nasopharyngeal cancer patients in the world are in China. The incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer is highest in Zhaoqing, Foshan and Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and Wuzhou in Guangxi Province, so it is also called “Guangdong cancer”. To date, the international medical community has not fundamentally elucidated the causes of malignant tumors, including nasopharyngeal cancer.
At present, the factors that may be related to the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are as follows: 1. Genetic factors: There is a western maxim that “you will get what kind of disease you are”, which fully reflects the important position of genetic factors in the occurrence of diseases. Modern molecular genetic and molecular biology research has identified some oncogenes related to the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Modern molecular genetics and molecular biology studies have identified some oncogenes related to the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In clinical practice, we often find some family-type patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, so it is necessary for those with family history to go to the hospital regularly to check the nasopharynx.
2.EB virus infection: also known as human herpes virus. Currently, many studies have found that EBV is closely related to the development of nasopharyngeal cancer, but so far there is no complete animal model of EBV causing nasopharyngeal cancer, so it is believed that EBV is likely to play a cancer-causing role under the combined effect of genetic and environmental factors. Nowadays, many medical check-up centers routinely conduct EBV antibody tests, and those who test positive should not be overly nervous, just go to the hospital regularly to check the nasopharynx.
3.Environmental factors: mainly nitrosamines, etc. Nitrosamines are high in pickled foods, such as salted fish loved in some areas of Guangdong, nitrosamines can induce animal tumors have been confirmed, such as feeding salted fish to rats, can induce nasal cavity, sinus cancer. Other factors include aromatic hydrocarbons (smoking), high content of nickel in the environment, formaldehyde, radiation, etc. Interestingly, a study has reported that the irritation of the nasopharyngeal mucosa by the airflow of certain southern dialects is also a reason for the high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Three common symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer: 1. Nasal symptoms: Early stage of nasopharyngeal cancer usually has very little bleeding, mostly manifested as blood in morning aspiration. In other words, blood or blood clots are found in the sputum inhaled from the nasal cavity into the mouth after waking up in the morning. Similarly, nasopharyngeal cancer rarely shows nasal congestion symptoms in early stage.
Ear symptoms: Ear symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma sometimes appear earlier than nasal symptoms, which is due to the fact that the preferred site of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is mostly located in the pharyngeal fossa, which easily affects the function of pharyngeal tube.
3.Neck symptoms: The main symptom is the swelling of lymph nodes on the deep neck. Sometimes the swelling of lymph nodes is the first symptom of nasopharyngeal cancer, and sometimes the swelling of lymph nodes in the neck appears even before the primary part of nasopharynx shows signs of tumor. In clinical practice, we find that patients with early metastasis of cervical lymph nodes often have a better prognosis because the cervical lymph nodes play the role of a sentinel to prevent further distant metastasis of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Of course, nasopharyngeal cancer can also show some other symptoms, such as posterior group cranial nerve compression symptoms (headache, trigeminal neuralgia, tongue movement disorder, hoarseness, etc.) and eye symptoms, which are generally manifestations of nasopharyngeal cancer at advanced stage.
Diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Electronic nasopharyngoscopy can detect early stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma which is very small and without any symptoms; imaging examination such as CT can understand the invasion range of nasopharyngeal carcinoma; pathological examination is required for final diagnosis.
Treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy is preferred for nasopharyngeal cancer, and the effect of radiotherapy has been clinically confirmed. With the advancement of technology, the effect of radiotherapy is getting better and better with less and less side effects, such as 3D conformal radiotherapy, intensity modulated conformal radiotherapy and other new technologies. For some advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma with multiple lymph node metastases, adjuvant chemotherapy can be used simultaneously to improve the treatment effect. Recently, nasal endoscopic surgery has been carried out for early stage limited nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and the effect remains to be observed. As nasopharyngeal cancer is prevalent in China, the current diagnosis and treatment level of nasopharyngeal cancer in China is leading in the international arena, and Guangzhou is leading in China, and the treatment effect of nasopharyngeal cancer should be one of the best among all malignancies.