The number of women with laryngeal cancer is increasing
Laryngeal cancer is a malignant tumor occurring in the larynx. Squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in the head and neck. In recent years, the incidence has increased significantly.
The age of onset is mostly concentrated in the age of 50 ~70 years, which is more common in males, the ratio of males to females is about 4:1. However, with the increase in the number of women actively or passively smoking in recent years, the number of women suffering from throat cancer is gradually increasing.
Laryngeal cancer is easily misdiagnosed as a cold or pharyngitis at first, and often causes patients' attention when the symptoms develop to a more serious level.
Hoarseness is the most common clinical manifestation of laryngeal cancer, and most patients are hoarseness as the first disease symptom. The reasons for hoarseness are on the one hand due to the occupying effect of the cancer itself affecting vocal cord vibration and glottis closure; on the other hand, the arytenoid cartilage, the paratrophic space, the retroannular area of the laryngeal muscle or the recurrent laryngeal nerve is invaded, resulting in vocal cord movement disorders. In addition, laryngeal cancer may also cause other symptoms such as difficulty breathing, cough, difficulty swallowing, and lymph node metastasis in the neck.
Passive smoking can also cause throat cancer
There are many factors that cause laryngeal cancer, first of all, smoking is very closely related to respiratory tumors.
A large number of epidemiological studies at home and abroad have shown that smoking is an important pathogenic factor of laryngeal cancer.
Studies have pointed out that the prevalence of laryngeal cancer in smokers is 6.35 times that of non-smokers. It is worth mentioning that passive smoking can not be ignored, and may also cause cancer.
The results of various clinical studies and epidemiological investigations show that long-term alcohol consumption is also associated with the incidence of laryngeal cancer.
Although alcohol has less influence on the incidence of laryngeal cancer than smoking, it is also an important factor in the risk of laryngeal cancer.
What's more frightening is that there is a synergistic effect between smoking and drinking risk factors, which means that when a person smokes and drinks for a long time, the probability of developing throat cancer will be more than 10 times that of healthy people.
In addition, some precancerous changes in the larynx, long-term exposure to toxic chemicals such as mustard gas, asbestos, nickel, and human papilloma virus infection are believed to cause laryngeal cancer.
Treatment: Removing the vocal cords won't leave you speechless
The main treatment of laryngeal cancer is surgery, combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
If the laryngeal cancer is found in the early stage, the laser surgery under the support laryngoscope can be performed. This method is a minimally invasive surgery, which can leave no scar on the body surface, and has the advantages of short operation time, little damage, good voice recovery, and few complications.
If the tumor is large or has lymph node metastasis, partial or total laryngectomy and neck lymph node dissection may also be performed to completely remove the tumor.
Many patients have a question: If I cut my vocal cords or cut my throat, will I not be able to speak? "In fact, this is not the case", the general laser surgery or partial laryngectomy are only to remove part of the vocal cords, most patients can retain the ability to voice after the operation, even patients who have a total laryngectomy can also sound through the esophageal vocal exercise and other methods.
When there are symptoms such as hoarseness, sore throat, cough, hemoptysis, and difficulty speaking, especially long-term smoking, alcoholism, age over 40, hoarseness, throat pain and discomfort after half a month of treatment, we must promptly go to the doctor for investigation.
If you can do early examination, early diagnosis, early treatment, can greatly improve the cure rate.
