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

What are the symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer? How to treat it?

Due to the hidden anatomical location of the nasopharynx, the early symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are atypical, and diagnosis is easily delayed clinically, so special vigilance should be exercised.

Its common symptoms are:

1. In the early stage of nasal symptoms, there may be blood in the retracted snot or blood in the blown snot, which may appear and disappear at times and usually does not attract the attention of patients. The continuous enlargement of the tumor may block the nostrils and cause nasal congestion, which starts on one side and then on both sides.

2. Ear symptoms: Tumors occurring in the pharyngeal recess may compress or block the pharyngeal opening of the Eustachian tube in the early stages, causing tinnitus, ear closure, hearing loss, and tympanic cavity effusion on that side, which can be easily misdiagnosed as secretory otitis media clinically.

3. Enlarged cervical lymph nodes. Cervical lymph node metastasis is more common, with enlarged cervical lymph nodes as the first symptom in 60% of cases. The metastatic and enlarged lymph nodes are the upper group of deep cervical lymph nodes, which are progressively enlarged, hard and immobile, and non-tender. They start out unilaterally and then develop into bilateral ones.

4. Cranial nerve symptoms: The tumor invades the skull through the pharyngeal recess and the foramen rupture on the affected side, often invading cranial nerves V and VI first, and then affecting cranial nerves II, III, and IV, causing headaches, facial numbness, limited eye abduction, ptosis, and other cranial nerve involvement symptoms; direct invasion of the tumor or compression by metastatic lymph nodes may cause damage to cranial nerves IX, X, XI, and XII, resulting in symptoms such as soft palate paralysis, choking, hoarseness, and tongue deviation.

5. Distant metastasis: Advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma may metastasize, most commonly to bones, lungs, liver, etc.