Long-term smoking and drinking can easily lead to laryngeal cancer

The number of laryngeal cancer patients is increasing. The main reason is that some people cannot change their long-term heavy smoking habit, especially smoking and drinking at the same time, which irritates the throat more. The incidence of laryngeal cancer is proportional to the total amount of daily smoking and the time of smoking. Long-term passive smoking can also cause cancer.

According to statistics, the greater the daily amount of smoking, the longer the "smoking age", the younger the age at which one starts smoking, or the longer and more "second-hand smoke" is inhaled, and the younger the age at which one starts to inhale "second-hand smoke", the higher the risk of laryngeal cancer. After quitting smoking, the risk of laryngeal cancer decreases year by year, and it can return to the risk level of a non-smoker after about 10 to 12 years. Tobacco can cause mucosal congestion, edema, and epithelial hyperplasia, which becomes the basis for cancer.

Under normal circumstances, there is a thin layer of mucus on the surface of people's vocal cords to protect and lubricate them. When speaking, the mucosal epithelium of the vocal cords does not come into direct contact but only contacts through the mucus layer, so it is generally not easy to develop lesions. If they are stimulated by harmful substances for a long time, especially long-term heavy smoking, not only can the harmful substances in cigarettes damage the vocal cord tissue, but the high-temperature smoke can also quickly evaporate the mucus on the surface of the laryngeal mucosa, so that when speaking, the mucosal epithelium of the vocal cords on both sides comes into direct contact and rubs against each other, damaging the vocal cords and causing lesions.

Therefore, it is recommended that all middle-aged and older men with a long history of smoking and who have unexplained hoarseness or other throat discomfort for more than 3 weeks should go to the hospital for a laryngoscopy.