Symptoms before nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal cancer refers to a malignant tumor that occurs in the nasopharyngeal mucosa. The specific survival period of nasopharyngeal cancer patients depends on the patient's own physical condition and the choice of treatment method. As long as you choose the correct treatment method according to the symptoms, you can maximize the patient's survival period. There are three ways to discover the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer and make nasopharyngeal cancer "nowhere to hide."

1. Symptoms of unilateral secretory otitis media

The common site of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is the pharyngeal recess, which can easily affect the function of the Eustachian tube, and then lead to secretory otitis media and ear symptoms such as tinnitus, stuffy ears, hearing loss, etc. Therefore, if adults have symptoms of unilateral secretory otitis media, they must check the nasopharynx.

2. Neck lumps

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can easily metastasize to the cervical lymph nodes, most of which are located in the upper group of lymph nodes in the deep neck. Swollen cervical lymph nodes are sometimes the first symptom of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and even when there is no sign of tumor in the primary nasopharynx, the cervical lymph nodes will swell. Therefore, if a lump is found in the neck, the nasopharynx should be checked first to rule out nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Patients with early cervical lymph node metastasis often have a better prognosis than patients whose tumors directly invade the skull base.

3. Blood in the morning mucus

Early stage nasopharyngeal cancer usually bleeds very little, and is often manifested as blood streaks or blood clots in the sputum inhaled from the nose into the mouth after getting up in the morning. There are rarely obvious nasal symptoms, such as nasal congestion and nose bleeding. When nasal congestion symptoms occur, the tumor is usually very large.

As long as you go to a specialist doctor in time, early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is not difficult. Electronic nasopharyngeal endoscopy is safe and fast, and can detect very small early nasopharyngeal carcinoma without any symptoms. Of course, the final diagnosis requires pathological examination.