Principles of prevention and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

In the early stages of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, blood may appear in the retracted snot or when blowing the nose, which may occur sometimes and not at other times and is usually not taken seriously by patients. As the disease progresses, the amount of bleeding gradually increases and nasal congestion will occur, often indicating that the disease has entered the middle or late stages. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients may also have headaches and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, which are often mistaken for lymph node tuberculosis or lymphadenitis.

Prevention principles for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Prevention of nasopharyngeal carcinoma should start with the cause (it is generally believed that the onset of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is related to heredity, infection with Epstein-Barr virus, inhalation or ingestion of carcinogens, etc.), pay more attention in daily life, do a good job of preventive health care, and nip the disease in the bud. This is the key to prevention. Due to the limitations of medical level and people's understanding, the current prevention of the disease is not very ideal. The current general situation is that people only try to find a way to treat the disease after they get sick, and before that they don't pay much attention to health knowledge.

Treatment principles for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: The general principle is early detection and early treatment. Most nasopharyngeal carcinomas are poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas, so radiotherapy has always been the first choice of treatment. The 5-year survival rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma alone can reach 55% to 60%, and the 5-year survival rate of early nasopharyngeal carcinoma can reach 80% to 90%. Even for patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, as long as they undergo active comprehensive treatment, about 1/3 of them can still achieve a survival rate of more than 5 years. The treatment method should be comprehensively judged and decided based on multiple factors such as tumor stage and patient's physical condition.