Tongue cancer has several symptoms

We are no longer unfamiliar with cancer. It is now a household name, but people still shudder because once cancer is diagnosed, it means fighting against death, and both the body and the mind are tortured. Today, let's take a look at the symptoms of tongue cancer:

Tongue cancer is the most common oral cancer, more common in men than in women. Most tongue cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, especially in the front 2/3 of the tongue. Adenocarcinomas are less common and are mostly located at the root of the tongue. Lymphoepithelial carcinoma and undifferentiated carcinomas may also occur at the root of the tongue. Tongue cancer often occurs at the edge of the tongue, followed by the tip, back and root of the tongue, and is often ulcerative or infiltrative. It is generally highly malignant, grows fast, and is highly invasive. It often affects the tongue muscles, resulting in limited tongue movement, making it difficult to speak, eat and swallow. Tongue cancer can invade the palatine arch and tonsils backwards. In the late stage, tongue cancer can spread to the floor of the mouth and the jaw, fixing the entire tongue. In addition, squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue body is more common in the middle 1/3 of the tongue edge, followed by the ventral and northern parts of the tongue. In the early stage of tongue cancer, enlarged lymph nodes under the ear and under the jaw can be seen. The early symptoms are not obvious, and can be manifested as a clear-cut, fixed-range, and abnormally colored area on the mucosal surface. It may appear red and white, with a smooth or fine granular surface, and a few may have ulcers; in the late stage, it may appear cauliflower-shaped. The tongue becomes hard.

Most of the early symptoms of tongue cancer are not obvious. In the early stage, it manifests as small mucosal nodules, which gradually form obvious lumps and ulcers. When combined with infection, it causes severe pain, which radiates to the face and ears on the same side. When tongue cancer invades the floor of the mouth, tongue movement is restricted, the tongue is fixed, eating is difficult, and speech is unclear. Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue body is more likely to occur in the middle 1/3 of the tongue edge, followed by the tongue belly and the northern part of the tongue. It can appear red and white, with a smooth or fine granular surface, and a few have ulcers; in the late stage, it can be cauliflower-shaped. The tongue body becomes hard.

Tongue cancer can manifest in three early stages: ulceration, exophytic, and invasive. In some cases, the first symptom is only tongue pain, which can sometimes be reflected in the temporal region or ear. The exophytic type may be caused by the malignant transformation of papilloma. The invasive type may have no protrusions or ulcers on the surface, which is the easiest to delay the disease, and patients often cannot detect it early.

Tongue cancer often presents with ulcers and infiltration, accompanied by spontaneous pain and varying degrees of tongue movement disorders. In the late stage of tongue cancer, it can directly exceed the midline or invade the floor of the mouth, as well as infiltrate the lingual periosteum, bone plate or bone of the mandible. It can extend backward to the root of the tongue or the anterior pharyngeal pillar and the lateral wall of the pharynx. At this time, the movement of the tongue can be severely restricted and fixed, and the saliva increases and overflows, and it cannot be controlled. Eating, swallowing, and speaking are all difficult. The pain is severe and can be reflected to half of the head. The lymph node metastasis rate of tongue cancer is relatively high, usually around 40%. The deep cervical lymph node group is the most common metastatic site. In the late stage of tongue cancer, lung metastasis or distant metastasis to other parts of the body may occur.