What is the early diagnosis method for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

How to diagnose nasopharyngeal carcinoma early?

1. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma should be differentiated from other malignant tumors of the nasopharynx, such as lymphoma, nasopharyngeal tuberculosis, nasopharyngeal angiofibroma, pharyngeal tonsil hyperplasia or infection, parapharyngeal space tumors, cervical and intracranial tumors such as craniopharyngioma, chordoma, cerebellopontine angle tumors, etc.

2. Laboratory tests: This step will help diagnose a disease or determine the patient's overall health by testing blood, urine, other substances, or body tissue samples.

3. MRI: This method uses magnetism and radio waves to take images of multiple areas in the patient's body. The images are processed by a computer. This early diagnosis method for nasopharyngeal cancer is also called MRI.

4. Serological examination: Many NPC patients, especially those with WHO category II and III NPC, have high EB virus antibody titers in their serum. Serum VCA-IgA and EA-IgA antibody titers in NPC patients can be used to help diagnose NPC and approximate prognosis.

5. Nasopharyngeal endoscopy: Nasopharyngeal endoscopy is one of the most important methods for early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Nasopharyngeal endoscopy is simple and reliable. The doctor inserts a thin optical fiber of the endoscope through the patient's nasal cavity into the nasopharynx and throat to check whether there are abnormal lesions in the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx and throat.

6. Examination of head, neck and clavicle lymph nodes: an important part of the physical examination. Since nasopharyngeal carcinoma lymph node metastasis is early and frequent, the doctor needs to carefully examine the location, size, hardness and number of neck and clavicle lymph nodes and carefully record the examination results.