What are the symptoms of laryngeal cancer

The two most common types of laryngeal cancer are primary laryngeal cancer and secondary laryngeal cancer. Relatively speaking, primary laryngeal cancer is more common. The main symptoms of the two different types of laryngeal cancer are similar. Although the mortality rate of laryngeal cancer is not high, its treatment period is very long and everyone will feel very uncomfortable.

The main symptoms of laryngeal cancer are hoarseness, dyspnea, cough, dysphagia, cervical lymph node metastasis, etc. The order of symptoms may be different in different primary sites.

1. Supraglottic laryngeal cancer

Most of them originate from the root of the lingual surface of the epiglottis. There are no symptoms in the early stage. Even when the tumor develops to a considerable extent, there are only mild or non-specific sensations, such as itchy throat, foreign body sensation, and swallowing discomfort. It often causes alarm only when the tumor metastasizes to the lymph nodes. This type of tumor is poorly differentiated and develops rapidly. When deep infiltration occurs, there may be throat pain, which radiates to the ears. If the tumor invades the spoon-shaped cartilage, the glottis, or the recurrent laryngeal nerve, it may cause hoarseness. In the late stage, patients will experience difficulty breathing and swallowing, coughing, blood in sputum, and coughing up blood.

2. Glottic laryngeal cancer

Since the primary site is the vocal cord, the early symptoms are changes in voice, such as fatigue and weakness in pronunciation, which can be easily mistaken for "pharyngitis". Therefore, people over 40 years old with hoarseness for more than 2 weeks should undergo careful laryngoscopy. As the tumor progresses, hoarseness may worsen or even cause loss of voice, and the increase in tumor size may cause difficulty breathing. In the late stage, as the tumor develops to the supraglottic or subglottic area, it may be accompanied by radiating ear pain, difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, difficulty expectorating, and bad breath. Finally, death may occur due to massive bleeding, aspiration pneumonia, or cachexia. This type is generally not easy to metastasize, but lymph node metastasis will soon occur if the tumor breaks through the glottis area.

3. Subglottic laryngeal cancer

This type is rare, and the primary site is below the vocal cord plane and above the lower edge of the cricoid cartilage. Due to the hidden location, the early symptoms are not obvious and it is easy to misdiagnose. When the tumor develops to a considerable extent, irritating cough and hemoptysis may occur. Subglottic blockage may cause dyspnea. When the tumor invades the vocal cords, hoarseness occurs. For patients with unexplained inhalation dyspnea and hemoptysis, the subglottic area and trachea should be carefully examined.

4. Transglottic laryngeal cancer

It refers to laryngeal cancer that originates in the laryngeal cavity and spans the supraglottic and glottic regions. It is difficult to detect in the early stages, and the tumor develops slowly. It takes more than six months from the first symptom to a clear diagnosis.

The above are the main symptoms of four types of laryngeal cancer. In life, you must pay attention to rest, drink plenty of water, do not eat spicy and irritating foods, and do not drink excessively. Once you have laryngeal cancer, you must seek timely treatment to avoid delaying the disease.