What are the late stage symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and what are the complications?

What are the late-stage symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma? What are the complications?

The late symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma are specific:

1. Nasal congestion: The tumor invades the posterior nares and nasal cavity, and may cause obvious nasal congestion symptoms.

2. When nasopharyngeal carcinoma invades the eye socket or nerves related to the eyeball, visual impairment, exophthalmos, diplopia, and restricted eye movement may occur.

3. Because the blood vessels of nasopharyngeal tumors are relatively fragile, the appearance of the tumor is often covered by countless membranes. In severe cases, a large amount of nasal obstruction may occur. After getting up in the morning, bloody nasal discharge often comes out of the mouth. The amount of blood is not much, and it is often ignored by patients or diagnosed and treated as hemoptysis by the respiratory department. It is more common to have ulcers or cauliflower on the surface of the cancer.

4. Diplopia: Due to the invasion of the abducens nerve by the tumor, double vision is often seen when looking outward. The invasion of the trochlear nerve often causes inward strabismus and diplopia. It is often damaged at the same time as the trigeminal nerve.

5. Tongue muscle atrophy and tongue extension deviation: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma directly invades or lymph nodes metastasize to the posterior part of the styloid process or the hypoglossal nerve canal, invading the hypoglossal nerve, causing the tongue to deviate to the affected side, accompanied by tongue muscle atrophy on the affected side. If both hypoglossal nerves are damaged, it is difficult to extend the tongue. Tongue extension deviation is second only to facial anesthesia.