Throat Cancer in India
Laryngeal cancer accounts for nearly 5% of all cancer cases in India
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Throat cancer is a type of cancer. This is a disease where abnormal cells multiply rapidly and uncontrollably. This growth of abnormal cells is known as a tumor. When this abnormal growth of cells originates in the throat, it is called throat cancer.
Throat cancer can affect the voice box, tonsils, oropharynx, and vocal cords. There are two categories of throat cancer. Laryngeal cancer refers to cancer that originates in the voice box. Pharyngeal cancer is cancer that develops in the hollow tube running from the nose to the windpipe. This can be further classified as nasopharynx cancer – cancer that develops in the upper part of the throat, oropharynx cancer – cancer that develops in the middle part of the throat and hypopharynx cancer – cancer that develops in the bottom part of the throat.
There are two primary types of throat cancer - Squamous cell carcinoma and Adenocarcinoma.
Squamous cell carcinoma This is a more common type of throat cancer and affects the flat cells lining the inside of the throat.
Adenocarcinoma This is a rarer form of throat cancer. It affects the glandular cells.
Throat cancer usually results from a genetic mutation. Such mutations make abnormal cells multiply uncontrollably. These cells do not have the same lifecycle as normal cells and hence live longer than normal cells. As they keep multiplying, they form a tumor.
Like other forms of cancer, throat cancer goes through five stages as it develops.
Stage 0: In this stage, the tumor is very small and affects only the top layer of cells.
Stage I: The tumour is limited to one part of the throat and is less than 2cm in size.
Stage II: The tumour grows to 2-4cm and may spread to a nearby part of the throat.
Stage III: The tumour spreads to other structures within the throat and may be larger than 4cm in size.
Stage IV: The tumour spread to the lymph nodes and other organs.
Throat cancer does not typically spread from one person to another. However, exposure to certain kinds of human papillomavirus infections (HPV) that are spread through sexually transmitted viruses has been associated with some types of throat cancer.
You could be at risk of developing throat cancer if:
Men have a higher risk of throat cancer as compared to women.
The symptoms of throat cancer include:
If the doctor suspects throat cancer, he may perform a direct or an indirect laryngoscopy to confirm his diagnosis. He will also take a tissue sample from your throat to conduct a biopsy. This may be done endoscopically, by collecting tissue samples with a fine needle directly injected into the tumour or while you are under general anaesthesia. Other tests that may be conducted include an MRI, CT scan, PET scan and chest X-ray.
If diagnosed early enough, throat cancer can be treated. However, in its later stages, it can be fatal. Treatment cannot cure the disease once it has spread to other organs but its progression may be slowed down. Some of the other complications it may cause include:
Treatment for throat cancer depends on the stage it is diagnosed at. If a tumor is small, surgery may be advised to remove it from the body. If a tumor is large but the doctors think that they can still remove it, surgery may be preceded by radiation to reduce shrink a tumor. Radiation and chemotherapy may also be given after the surgery to kill any remaining cancerous cells. Throat cancer may also be treated with targeted therapy.
Laryngeal cancer accounts for nearly 5% of all cancer cases in India
HPV vaccinations can help prevent throat cancer
Affordable prosthetic voice boxes can give throat cancer patients back their voice after their voice box is removed.
Lung cancer is the medical condition where abnormal growth takes place in the cells of either one or both of the lungs, in most cases in the inner linings of the air passage.
Prostate Cancer Treatment requires surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy depending upon the type and stage of cancer. Few prostate cancers will slowly progress, and few others are aggressive may require surgery.
Abnormal or uncontrolled outgrowths of the tissue within the lungs of an individual is termed as Lung Cancer. With the help of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, it can remove, kill or damage the cancer cells.
If suspicious is high, she will require Biopsy from node..
Good local examination may also give information about primary site of disease
Good luck.
It is almost impossible to narrow down without having examined . Wonder if you can share the reports.