Experts introduce the six early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer

The incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma has been on the rise in recent years. As a patient, you must first have a certain understanding of the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma . What are the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma? Let’s take a look at the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

(I) Respiratory hematuria. Early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma may include bleeding, which is manifested as blood in sputum after suctioning the nose or blood in the mucus when blowing the nose. In the early stage, there is only a small amount of blood in the sputum or mucus, which sometimes appears and sometimes disappears. In the late stage, there is more bleeding, and there may be nosebleeds.

(ii) Tinnitus, hearing loss, and a feeling of blockage in the ear. When nasopharyngeal carcinoma occurs in the lateral wall of the nasopharynx, the lateral fossa, or the upper lip of the Eustachian tube opening, the tumor compresses the Eustachian tube, which can cause unilateral tinnitus or hearing loss, and catarrhal otitis media. Unilateral tinnitus or hearing loss, and a feeling of blockage in the ear are one of the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

(III) Headache is a common early symptom of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, accounting for 68.6%. It can be the first symptom or the only symptom. In the early stage, the headache is not fixed in location and is intermittent. In the late stage, it is a persistent migraine with a fixed location. The cause of this may be caused by neurovascular reflex or stimulation of the first branch of the trigeminal nerve in early stage patients. In late stage patients, it is often caused by tumors destroying the skull base and spreading inside the skull to affect the cranial nerves.

(IV) Diplopia: Due to the invasion of the abducens nerve by the tumor, double vision is often seen when looking outward. Invasion of the trochlear nerve often causes inward strabismus and diplopia, which accounts for 6.2% to 19%. It is often damaged at the same time as the trigeminal nerve.

(V) Facial numbness refers to numbness of the facial skin. Clinical examination shows decreased or absent pain and tactile sensation. Tumor invasion of the cavernous sinus often causes damage to the first or second branch of the trigeminal nerve; tumor invasion of the oval foramen, the anterior area of ​​the styloid process, and the third branch of the trigeminal nerve often causes numbness or paresthesia of the skin in the front of the auricle, temporal region, cheek, lower lip, and chin. Facial skin numbness accounts for 10% to 27.9%.

(VI) Nasal congestion. Nasal congestion may occur when the tumor blocks the posterior nostril. When the tumor is small, the nasal congestion is mild. As the tumor grows, the nasal congestion becomes more severe, usually unilateral. If the tumor blocks both posterior nostrils, bilateral nasal congestion may occur.

Based on the above-mentioned early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer, I believe you should understand them. On the premise that we understand the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer, we must also detect the existence of the disease in time and then carry out early treatment. So I hope you can remember these early symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer. Here I wish you a speedy recovery.