People who like to eat salted fish have two to seven times higher risk of developing nasopharyngeal cancer. Nasopharyngeal cancer occurs in middle-aged people, with the highest incidence around the age of 50. Secondly, the occurrence of nasopharyngeal cancer is related to many factors, and is the result of the interaction of genes, environment, dietary habits and other factors.
“Nasopharyngeal cancer is commonly found in family aggregation. In Hainan, there is a family with 49 people in two generations, 13 of whom are clearly suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer. Some people have also done a follow-up survey, after people from coastal areas immigrated to the United States, the incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer in their offspring is still higher than the total population. This suggests that genetic factors play a role in the development of nasopharyngeal cancer. I found that the vast majority of patients have the habit of eating salted fish. In Taizhou, a family of fishermen brothers, two out of five were diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer and their father died of nasopharyngeal haemorrhage, which was highly suspected of having nasopharyngeal cancer. When asked about the medical history, they learned that the whole family loved salted fish, and basically could not eat without salted fish in three meals a day.
He was not alone in his concern about the relationship between salted fish and nasopharyngeal cancer. Investigation shows that people who love salted fish have 2-7 times higher risk of nasopharyngeal cancer than those who do not like salted fish.
EBV infection, too, is one of the causes of nasopharyngeal cancer. Because, the vast majority of patients in the high incidence area of nasopharyngeal cancer in China are EBV antibody positive. A biopsy can also reveal signs of having been infected by EBV.
Considering that there are many causative factors of nasopharyngeal cancer, please pay attention to prevention by eating less salted fish, cured meat and pickles, and more fresh fruits and vegetables. In terms of environment, breathe fresh air as much as possible. In terms of living habits, pay attention to exercise and improve resistance. For high-risk people with family history of nasopharyngeal cancer, have a nasoscopy once a year and seek medical treatment in time once symptoms appear.
Diversified symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer can easily cause misdiagnosis A 58-year-old male patient with nasal congestion and a bit of phlegm in his nose appeared more than 4 months ago. When he first visited the local hospital, the doctor said he had rhinitis and prescribed some nasal drops to constrict blood vessels. When he first used them, they did have some effect, but after he stopped taking them, his condition recurred and became more serious than the last time.
So, the use of stop and go, repeatedly tossed a few months. He was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after nasal microscopy and biopsy a month ago.
“Nasopharyngeal cancer symptoms are diverse and easy to be misdiagnosed.” Some patients found a mass in their neck and treated it as lymphitis for several months without improvement before further examination to confirm the diagnosis. Some patients have symptoms such as tinnitus, facial numbness and headache, which were treated symptomatically in the neurology department for a period of time but did not improve, and the diagnosis was confirmed only after several weeks. Other patients are treated as other diseases in ophthalmology due to blurred vision and proptosis.
According to a survey, it takes an average of two to three months for a patient to be diagnosed from the onset of symptoms to the time of consultation, with some patients spending half a year or even a year.
When symptoms such as neck mass, blood, tinnitus, facial numbness, headache, nasal congestion, blurred vision, protruding eyes, etc. occur and do not improve after symptomatic treatment, or the symptoms recur, it is necessary to be alert to the possibility of nasopharyngeal cancer, especially for those who have a family history of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Five-year survival rate after treatment of early stage nasopharyngeal cancer is as high as 95% “People should never be afraid of cancer at the sight of it, the prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer is very good.” The treatment principle of nasopharyngeal cancer is a comprehensive treatment based on radiotherapy with less surgical involvement, and the overall five-year survival rate is generally up to 85% after standardized treatment. For early stage patients, the five-year survival rate is even as high as 95 percent, which is very close to the survival rate of the psychic population.
A patient treated nine years ago. After MRI, it was found that the patient’s nasopharyngeal carcinoma had invaded the brain and the largest diameter in the brain reached 8 cm. At that time, he was very depressed and lost confidence in life. He agreed to the treatment only after his family members kept persuading him. After the radiotherapy, his lesion completely disappeared and until now, he is still living a very healthy life.
Also, a female patient who was seen 4 months ago had a very large nasopharyngeal cancer mass that invaded and compressed the brainstem, she could no longer walk, she often had nausea and vomiting, and ate very little. After careful treatment, when she came to the hospital for follow-up yesterday, the tumor had disappeared, and she could also walk independently and take care of herself completely.
As a reminder, the most important factor affecting the treatment effect is the stage of the tumor. The earlier the staging, the better the treatment effect.