Cancer is a deadly disease that can affect anyone including you. Among many, throat cancer is a type of cancer that develops in your throat or voice box. Our throat is a muscular tube that is located behind our nose and ends in our neck and the voice box sits just below our throat that makes the sound when we talk.
There are many reasons you can develop throat cancer which can affect your life. If you are seeking the right treatment for your throat cancer, consult a cancer surgeon in Siliguri for betterment. In most cases, surgery is the ultimate treatment for throat cancer. Consult your doctor for the surgery as it depends on the type, location, and area of throat cancer.
There are different types of throat cancer that can affect your daily activities such as:
- Laryngeal cancer
- Oropharyngeal cancer
- Glottic cancer
- Subglottic cancer
- Hypopharyngeal cancer
- Nasopharyngeal cancer
- Supraglottic cancer
Throat Cancer: Symptoms
- A sore throat
- A cough
- Ear pain
- Weight loss
- Lumps in the mouth
- Lumps in the throat
- Lumps in the neck
- Changes in your voice
- Difficulty swallowing food
Having these symptoms do not indicate that you have throat cancer. But these symptoms almost specify less serious conditions. If you have the above symptoms that last more than two weeks you should talk to your best oncologist in Siliguri to figure out the exact reason.
Throat Cancer: Causes
When cells in your throat develop genetic mutations, you get throat cancer. When healthy cells normally die, these mutations cause cells to grow out of control and keep living. The medical research team still investigating what causes this change.
The largest risk factor for developing head and neck cancer, including throat cancer, is smoking and chewing tobacco products. Additionally, a moderate amount of consuming alcohol also helps to develop throat cancer. Apart from that, HPV, a specific type of sexually transmitted infection also equally responsible for throat cancer.
Throat Cancer: Diagnosis & Treatment
Your cancer surgeon will diagnose throat cancer by using several tests such as:
- Physical examination
- Laryngoscopy
- Pharyngoscopy
- CT scan
- MRI scan
- PET scan
- Endoscopic biopsy
After diagnosing, your doctor will determine the stage of cancer and then make treatment options that are perfectly suited for you. Usually, stage I indicates a smaller tumor in the throat while stage IV represents the advanced stage.
Radiation Therapy
High-energy beams of radiation from sources like X-rays and protons are used in this treatment to kill cancer cells.
Chemotherapy
This is used to treat throat cancers combined with radiation therapy.
Surgery
- Used for small tumors that have not spread to the lymph nodes
- To remove all or part of the voice box
- To remove any part of the throat
- To remove cancerous lymph nodes
Apart from that, your cancer surgeon in Siliguri will also use targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy, rehabilitation treatment, and palliative care, to improve the quality of your life.
