What are the symptoms of tongue cancer radiotherapy sequelae

Tongue cancer is a type of oral cancer that belongs to the head and neck tumors. There are some important organs and structures in the head and neck, such as teeth, salivary glands, taste buds, inner ear, mandible, etc. When tongue cancer is radiotherapy, it will inevitably cause certain damage to the surrounding normal tissues and organs.

After radiotherapy, salivary gland damage can lead to decreased salivary gland secretion and dry mouth in patients with tongue cancer. The taste buds on the tongue can be affected, causing a loss of taste and an inability to taste food. Damage to teeth can lead to radiation-induced caries. Damage to the inner ear can cause hearing loss. Damage to the mandible can lead to mandibular necrosis. And after the neck is irradiated, the skin on the neck can become stiff and movement of the neck can be impaired.

Therefore, when making a radiotherapy plan, the surrounding normal tissues and organs should be protected as much as possible, and some preventive work should be done, such as cleaning teeth and removing decayed teeth before radiotherapy, rinsing the mouth more often during radiotherapy, maintaining oral hygiene, and doing some neck movement exercises during and after radiotherapy to avoid the occurrence of these sequelae.