Early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
1. Blood and tears
Nosebleed is an early symptom of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which is manifested as nosebleed, or nosebleed is sucked back from the mouth, also known as blood in sputum. Blood and tears often appear after getting up in the morning. When the amount of nasal mucus is small, it is often ignored by patients, mistaken for rhinitis or sinusitis, or treated as hemoptysis in internal medicine.
2. Nasal congestion
Nasal congestion is another early manifestation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Most of them are unilateral nasal congestion. Bilateral nasal congestion can occur when nasopharyngeal tumors grow.
3. Tinnitus and hearing loss
Tinnitus, deafness and hearing loss are also early signs of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. This symptom is caused by the obstruction of eustachian tube mouth by new nasopharyngeal carcinoma organisms. The further deterioration of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and the damage of auditory nerve may also lead to hearing loss. Tinnitus and hearing loss are often misdiagnosed as otitis media or other diseases, which delays treatment.
headache
When nasopharyngeal carcinoma is first diagnosed, about 70% patients have headache symptoms. Headache symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are often migraine, occipital pain on the top of the head or neck pain. The headache of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is mostly related to the invasion of skull base bone, nerve and blood vessel by cancer tissue.
5. Cervical lymphadenopathy
Many patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma often accidentally touch a "lump" on their neck and seek medical treatment. This "lump" is actually an enlarged lymph node. Cervical lymph node enlargement in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma is often misdiagnosed as inflammation. For neck masses that have not shrunk or even rapidly increased after anti-inflammatory treatment, especially those with hard texture, poor mobility and more painless neck masses that are fused together, it is necessary to see a doctor in time.
2. Treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma
1, surgical treatment
Because of the characteristics of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, surgery cannot be the first choice for treatment. However, in the case of recurrence after radiotherapy, surgery is still beneficial as a rescue treatment.
2. Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is the first choice for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Cobalt 60 radiotherapy is superior to deep X-ray irradiation, and can also be used in combination with intracavitary radium therapy. Radiotherapy has a direct killing effect on cancer cells, but the adverse reaction is relatively large, which will damage normal cells.
3. Combined chemotherapy
Chemotherapy can be used in combination with radiotherapy, and can also be used for palliative treatment of patients with advanced distant metastasis or recurrence after radiotherapy. Commonly used drugs are cisplatin, carboplatin and cyclophosphamide. Bleomycin, 5- fluorouracil and so on. The effect is better than that of radiotherapy or chemotherapy alone.
4. Comprehensive treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has a poor prognosis because of its high malignancy and low surgical resection rate. Although surgery is still the main treatment method, nasopharyngeal carcinoma needs comprehensive treatment because it is often found late and the opportunity for treatment is lost. So far, like most tumors, there is not an efficient, complete and applicable comprehensive treatment scheme. At present, the comprehensive treatment is still mainly surgical treatment, supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and a new method of combining immunotherapy with molecular biotherapy is being explored.
3. How to prevent nasopharyngeal carcinoma
(1) Avoid accepting heavily polluted outside air environment as much as possible. Because the nasopharynx is the only way for outside air to enter the lungs, harmful gases invade the nasopharynx first and then enter the lungs.
(2) Quit smoking and limit alcohol.
(3) Pay attention to the diet structure, don't be partial to food, and eat more foods containing a lot of vitamins such as vegetables and fruits. In diet, eat little or no foods containing nitrosamines, such as salted fish, pickled sauerkraut, bacon and some canned foods containing nitrosamines. According to the survey, children who eat salted fish before the age of 10 have a significantly increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, so children should not eat it.
(4) Taking some anti-cancer Chinese medicines, such as Ginsenoside Rh2 product Venus (Rh2) Lifesaver, can improve immunity, inhibit the growth and proliferation of cancer cells, and have a good effect on preventing nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
(5) Take part in sports appropriately to enhance the disease resistance.
(6) People over 40 years old should have nasopharyngeal examination at the same time.