What are the causes and clinical manifestations of laryngeal cancer?

Laryngeal cancer (carcinoma oflarynx) is a relatively common malignant tumor, with an incidence rate of about 1-5% of total body tumors. In the field of otolaryngology, it ranks third after nasopharyngeal carcinoma and nasal and paranasal sinus cancer. The most common age is 50 to 70 years old. It is more common in men than in women, about 8:1, and the highest incidence rate is in Northeast China, North China and East China. The cause of the disease is not very clear, but the patients almost always have a long history of smoking. Symptoms vary depending on the vocal location of the cancer. Hoarseness may occur in the early stages of vocal cord cancer, while supraglottic cancer often manifests as discomfort in the throat or foreign body freezing, pain, and is often not obvious, which can easily delay diagnosis. In the late stage, obvious hoarseness, laryngeal sound, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, pain, swallowing disorders, neck masses and cervical lymph node enlargement may occur.

(1) Smoking: Tobacco burning produces tobacco tar, of which benzopyrene can cause cancer. Tobacco smoke can also stop or slow the movement of cilia, cause mucosal edema and bleeding, and cause epithelial hyperplasia, thickening, and squamous metaplasia, which become the basis for cancer.

(2) Excessive drinking: Long-term stimulation of the mucous membrane can cause it to degenerate and cause cancer.

(3) Chronic inflammatory irritation such as chronic laryngitis or respiratory tract inflammation.

(4) Air pollution: Long-term inhalation of harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide and industrial dust such as chromium and arsenic can easily cause laryngeal cancer.

(5) Viral infection is closely related to the occurrence of cancer. It is generally believed that viruses can change the nature of cells and cause abnormal division; viruses can attach to genes and be passed on to the next generation of cells, causing cancer.

(6) Precancerous lesions: Repeated attacks of laryngeal keratosis and benign laryngeal tumors such as laryngeal papilloma may lead to cancer.

(7) Radiation: Radiation treatment of neck tumors may cause cancer.

(8) Sex hormones: Relevant experiments have shown that the percentage of estrogen receptor-positive cells in laryngeal cancer patients is significantly increased.

Clinical manifestations: The symptoms of laryngeal cancer may vary depending on the location of the tumor and the extent of the lesion.

(1) Supraglottic cancer: The early symptoms are not obvious, but the disease progresses rapidly. There may be discomfort in the throat and a foreign body sensation. After the surface of the tumor ulcerates, there is throat pain, which may be reflected in the ears and affect eating. In the late stage, after the tumor erodes the blood vessels, the sputum is coughed up with blood and often smells bad. When it invades the vocal cords, the arytenoid cartilage of the ventricular zone or the paraglottic space, hoarseness may occur. In the late stage, it may cause difficulty breathing.

(2) Vocal cord cancer: It often occurs at the edge of the junction between the front 1/3 and the middle 1/3 of the vocal cord. Even a small tumor can affect the closure and phonation of the vocal cord, so hoarseness occurs in the early stage. The vocal cord has few lymphatic vessels, so the tumor develops slowly and is not easy to metastasize to the cervical lymph nodes. The main symptom is progressive worsening of hoarseness. If the tumor ulcerates, there will be blood in the sputum, but there is rarely a large amount of hemoptysis. In the late stage, there will be pain and difficulty breathing. When the tumor grows to a certain size, it can cause difficulty breathing and can develop above and below the vocal cords. Metastasis to the lateral cervical lymph nodes or the anterior laryngeal and tracheal lymph nodes may occur.

(3) Subglottic cancer: It is located below the vocal cords and above the lower edge of the cricoid cartilage. There are no symptoms in the early stage, but cough and blood in sputum may occur later. In the late stage, the subglottic area is blocked by the cancer and breathing difficulties are common.

(4) Paraglottic cancer: There are no symptoms in the early stage, and it is very easy to spread to the lateral paraglottic space. Hoarseness is the first symptom, and the vocal cords are fixed without visible tumors. Later, the cancer spreads to the paraglottic space, infiltrating and destroying the laryngeal cartilage, which may cause sore throat. On the invaded side, the laryngeal cartilage support can be felt to be bulging and there is an irritating dry cough.

(5) Patients aged 40 or above with hoarseness for more than four weeks and nodular, cauliflower-like, or ulcerous neoplasms or masses above the glottis, on the vocal cords, or below the glottis as seen under indirect laryngoscopy, and with restricted and fixed vocal cord movement are suspected of laryngeal cancer and should undergo a biopsy in a timely manner.

The above is some knowledge about laryngeal cancer that we have prepared for you today. We hope it will be helpful to you. If you have any other needs, you can also consult our online consulting experts. We are always here to answer your questions.

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