Can nasopharyngeal cancer be treated with surgery? What are other treatments?

There are many treatments for nasopharyngeal cancer, and different treatments may be applicable to different situations. So, can nasopharyngeal cancer be treated with surgery? What are other treatments?

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can be treated with surgery. The main method for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is surgical therapy. Usually, surgical removal of cancerous tumors can prevent the spread and metastasis of cancer cells. Because of the special anatomical location of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, special attention is required when performing surgery on nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, not all situations are suitable for surgery. The posterior wall of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is the cervical vertebrae, the top wall is the skull base, and the foramen of the rupture has the sublingual, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory nerves and important arteries and veins entering and exiting the cranial cavity. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma also invades the skull from here. The walls on both sides have large arteries, veins and lymphatic tissue. These many connecting tissues have caused a certain degree of difficulty in surgery, but it cannot be said that nasopharyngeal carcinoma cannot be treated with surgery.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can be treated with surgery. Other treatments for nasopharyngeal carcinoma include:

1. Radiotherapy Radiotherapy is the first choice for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Cobalt-60 radiotherapy is superior to deep X-ray irradiation, and intracavitary radium therapy can also be used. Radiotherapy has a more direct killing effect on cancer cells, but the adverse reactions are relatively large and will damage normal cells.

2. Combined chemotherapy Chemotherapy can be used in conjunction with radiotherapy, or for palliative treatment of patients with advanced stage disease with distant metastasis or recurrence after radiotherapy. Commonly used drugs include cisplatin, carboplatin, cyclophosphamide, bleomycin, 5-fluorouracil, etc. The effect is better than radiotherapy or chemotherapy alone.

3. Treatment with traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine plays an important role in the treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. It can not only reduce the toxic and side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on the human body, but also enhance the efficacy and reduce the toxicity in the treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Some symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer can be treated through surgery. Of course, the specific method should be determined according to the actual situation.