What are the symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer and how to treat it

What are the symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer? How is it treated?

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma often occurs in the nasopharyngeal recess and the anterior wall. The lesions can be nodular, ulcerative, mucosal invasive, etc., mostly poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Others may be adenocarcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma, etc.

The main symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer are:

1. Nasal symptoms. Bloody runny nose is caused by the primary cancer breaking through the surface mucosa. The nasal secretions usually contain blood or blood clots when inhaled, which is common after getting up in the morning.

2. Ear symptoms. When cancer of the lateral wall of the nasopharynx or other parts of the nasopharynx expands, blocks or compresses the Eustachian tube, catarrhal otitis media often occurs, leading to tinnitus, ear occlusion and hearing loss, or accompanied by tympanic effusion. Conscious ear symptoms accounted for 16.1%.

3. Cranial nerve symptoms. The tumor can invade the skull through the foramen of the skull base above the pharyngeal recess and the petrosphenoid region. Over time, the skull base bone is destroyed and the lesion expands. If other cranial nerves are also invaded, there may be symptoms such as loss of vision, fixed eyeballs, and various movement disorders. The tumor can directly invade the parapharyngeal space or be compressed by metastatic lymph nodes, causing symptoms such as damage to the IX, X, and XII cranial nerves, paralysis of the soft palate, choking, hoarseness, and tongue deviation.

4. Cervical lymph node metastasis. It is usually the first sign discovered by the patient. About 60% of neck masses are metastatic. If the primary cancer is located on the nasopharyngeal side, it usually metastasizes to the cervical lymph nodes on the same side first and then invades the other side.

5. Distant metastasis. Hematogenous metastasis is common in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and more than half of the deaths have distant metastasis. Bone metastasis is the most common, especially flat bone metastasis; followed by liver and lung metastasis. Usually there are multiple metastases at the same time.