What are the symptoms of stage 1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Many people have a clear understanding of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. When treating nasopharyngeal carcinoma, medication should be used in a timely manner. The following small series introduces the symptoms of stage 1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Due to the hidden location of the nasopharynx, it is difficult to examine. The early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are complex and lack characteristics. They are easily overlooked, and diagnosis and treatment are delayed. You must remain vigilant. Common symptoms include:

① Bleeding: mainly blood in the posterior nasal ligament, or bloody nasal discharge. At the beginning, there is often a small amount of blood, which is easy to be ignored. When the amount of bleeding is large, the disease often enters the middle and late stages. ② Headache: There may be headaches in the early stage, mostly on one side, intermittent; in the late stage, there are continuous severe headaches, which are easily mistaken for neuralgic migraine. ③ Enlarged cervical lymph nodes: lumps on one or both sides of the neck, impotence, hard quality, poor mobility, often mistaken for lymph tuberculosis or lymphadenitis. ④ Other symptoms: In addition to one or all of the above symptoms, there may also be symptoms such as nasal congestion, ear closure, tinnitus, numbness of the ears, diplopia, upper and lower eyesight drooping. Late-stage cancer is prone to invade the brain and metastasize to distant sites such as bones, liver, and lungs.

Since NPC is mostly poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, radiotherapy is the first choice, and 60 Co or linear accelerator high-energy radiotherapy is often used. The 5-year survival rate of radiotherapy is about 45%. Local recurrence and metastasis of NPC after radiotherapy is the main cause of death. Some patients who still have local lesions after external irradiation of 60~70Gy can cooperate with intracavitary afterloading therapy.

Through the above introduction, patients can more clearly understand the symptoms of stage 1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma and better use medications during the treatment process.