What is the difference between rhinitis and nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Patients with nasopharyngeal cancer often have this question: they clearly had symptoms of rhinitis at the beginning, so how come when they went to the hospital for a check-up later, they were diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer? In fact, this is because the patients have confused the symptoms of rhinitis and rhinitis cancer. We know that clinically, some symptoms of rhinitis and nasopharyngeal cancer are similar, but precisely because of this, we need to strictly distinguish between rhinitis and nasopharyngeal cancer. Let's take a look at the difference between the two.

Rhinitis is the edema, hypertrophy, atrophy and other diseases of the nasal mucosa. Its main symptoms are nasal congestion and runny nose. Nasal cancer is a malignant neoplasm that grows in the nasal cavity. It is characterized by rapid growth, severe nasal congestion, and often accompanied by bloody secretions. In addition, it is highly destructive and often invades the sinuses, eye sockets, upper palate, and skull base, and causes corresponding symptoms. For example, invasion of the eye sockets can cause eye displacement and visual impairment; invasion of the sinuses often causes headaches and symptoms related to sinusitis; invasion of the palate can cause the upper palate to collapse.

The difference between rhinitis and nasal cancer is more obvious during examination. Rhinitis only shows changes in the nasal mucosa, but no neoplasms, while nasal cancer can be seen as obvious lumps in the nasal cavity. The surface is often rough and uneven, and appears cauliflower-like, and it is very easy to bleed when touched. There is a clear difference in the tissue types of the two. Rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the nasal mucosa, while nasal cancer generally refers to nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which is a tumor disease. The former can be cured by removing the cause through anti-inflammatory treatment, while the latter will continue to develop even if the carcinogenic factors disappear, the tissue that has become a tumor will continue to develop.