Throat cancer how fast does it spread

Hearing test: The most common chemo drug used to treat oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer, cisplatin, can cause ringing in the ears or even hearing loss. You might have your hearing checked with an audiogram before starting treatment and your chemotherapy might be changed if your hearing is poor to start with. Nutrition and speech tests: A nutritionist might check your nutrition status before, during, and after treatment to try and keep your body weight and protein levels as normal as possible.

A speech therapist might test how well you swallow and speak. They might give you exercises to do to help strengthen the muscles so that you can eat and talk normally after finishing treatment. Blood tests: Blood tests are not used to find cancer of the oral cavity or oropharynx, but they can tell the doctor more about your overall health, like your kidney or liver function. Quit smoking: If you smoke cigarettes or use chewing tobacco, your doctor might talk to you about quitting all tobacco products before starting treatment.

Smoking while getting cancer treatment can cause problems such as poor wound healing after surgery, more side effects from chemo, and a higher chance of infection. If you have oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer, the doctor will want to find out how far it has spread. This is called staging. Knowing the stage will help your doctor decide what type of treatment is best for you.

The stage describes the spread of the cancer in the place it started. It also tells if the cancer has spread to nearby organs or to organs farther away. Your cancer can be stage 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. The lower the number, the less the cancer has spread. A higher number, like stage 4, means a more serious cancer that has spread from where it started. Be sure to ask the doctor about the cancer stage and what it means for you. You might get more than one type of treatment. Some of these cancers are in places that are hard to operate on.

Still, surgery may be used to take out the cancer and an edge of healthy tissue around it. In some cases, all or part of the tongue, throat, voice box, or jaw bone may need to be removed. Surgery may also be used to take out lymph nodes in the neck that might have cancer. Surgery can also be used to help you do things that the cancer may have changed.

Some surgeries can even help rebuild part of the throat. Any type of surgery can have risks and side effects. Ask the doctor what you can expect. If you have problems, let your doctors know. Doctors who treat people with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers should be able to help you with any problems that come up.

Radiation uses high-energy rays like x-rays to kill cancer cells. It can be given alone or along with chemotherapy called chemoradiation. Treatment is possible, but the outlook will depend on where cancer starts and how soon a person receives a diagnosis. It can affect the larynx voice box and either the upper or lower part of the pharynx throat.

As cancer spreads, it may grow into nearby tissues. However, the name of the cancer will always depend on where it starts. It shares some features with oropharyngeal cancer and mouth cancer. It can affect both adults and children. It is relatively rare. According to the NCI, the lifetime risk of developing cancer in the mouth or throat is around 1. In , the NCI estimate that 53, people will receive a diagnosis of oropharyngeal cancer, which includes throat cancer.

They expect In adults, exposure to tobacco and the human papillomavirus HPV increase the risk. This article will look at some common types, causes, symptoms, and treatments of throat cancer and the outlook for someone with a diagnosis.

Oropharyngeal cancer affects the mouth and the top part of the throat. The NCI estimate that 1. Hypopharyngeal cancer affects the lower part of the pharynx, or throat.

Laryngeal cancer affects the larynx, or voice box. Many types of throat cancer begin as squamous cell carcinoma. This means cancer starts in the squamous cells that line the throat.

As well as in the throat and mouth, this type of cancer can also start behind the nose. Mouth cancer is another type of head and neck cancer. Find out here what it involves. There are many different types of throat cancer. The symptoms and progression will depend on the type and location of the cancer. Common early symptoms of throat cancer might include:.

Symptoms will depend on the type of cancer. A person with hypopharyngeal cancer may not have symptoms in the early stages. This can make it harder to spot. Other conditions can cause these symptoms.

However, if they persist or are severe, a person should ask a doctor to check them to rule out a serious condition. Tonsil cancer is another type of head and neck cancer. Radiation and Surgery: Combined radiation and surgery is usually reserved for larger cancers of the throat.

However, this approach may also be used to treat patients who have cancer detected in the margins of the removed tissue or who have only a narrow margin of normal tissue remaining after surgical removal of the cancer. One of the controversies in treatment of early stage cancer of the throat is whether or not to routinely treat the lymph nodes in the neck with surgery and radiation therapy.

If left untreated, cancers of the throat ultimately spread throughout the lymph system in the neck. Untreated cancer that has spread to lymph nodes is responsible for cancer recurrence. Thus, identifying whether cancer is present in the lymph nodes in the neck is important for preventing recurrence. Currently, surgical removal of the lymph nodes in the neck is the best way to determine whether cancer is present. A modified radical neck dissection, which is associated with less cosmetic and functional complications than radical neck dissection, is used for elective lymph node dissection in patients without clinical evidence of cancer spread.

When positive lymph nodes are identified, patients are usually treated with radiation therapy to the neck. If the lymph node evaluation reveals no evidence of cancer, no further therapy after lymph node dissection is recommended. At this time, clinical studies have not convincingly demonstrated improved survival for patients with early stage throat cancer subjected to elective lymph node removal compared to close observation and treatment of recurrence with surgery or radiation therapy.

The main benefits of lymph node removal appear to be accurate staging and potentially more effective treatment for those with spread of cancer. The development of more effective cancer treatments requires that new and innovative therapies be evaluated with cancer patients. Clinical trials are studies that evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs or treatment strategies.

Future progress in the treatment of early stage cancer of the throat will result from the continued evaluation of new treatments in clinical trials.

Participation in a clinical trial may offer patients access to better treatments and advance the existing knowledge about treatment of this cancer. In some cases, the tube may be removed as soon as normal eating is possible. Pain management physicians, dietitians, speech therapists, physical therapists and naturopathic clinicians may offer a range of techniques to help prevent and reduce side effects of throat cancer treatments.

They may be involved from the beginning of treatment, during treatment, or after treatment is complete. The length of time patients experience side effects varies. Voice loss may be permanent for some throat cancer patients, but options may be available in certain circumstances.

For example, with a tracheoesophageal puncture , or TEP, a doctor places a small, one-way valve between the trachea and the esophagus to help the patient speak. The TEP may be an option for patients who undergo a laryngectomy , or the removal of all or part of the vocal cords. Early diagnosis is critical to seeing that you have as many treatment options as possible for throat cancer.

Still, many patients experience delayed diagnoses, mostly because of a lack of available screening tools and because symptoms, such as a lingering sore throat, mimic less serious conditions. If you are diagnosed with throat cancer , knowing which questions to ask your doctor will help get you started on a course of treatment tailored to you.

A diagnostic evaluation is often the first step in confirming the disease. A neck mass is often misdiagnosed as an infection, with doctors prescribing an antibiotic, which may lead to a delay in diagnosis. Throat cancer patients who are diagnosed in the early stages have more treatment options available to them. The disease is on the rise among men and women younger than 50, largely because of an increase in human papillomavirus HPV -linked cancers.

Knowing the stage of your throat cancer is important in developing a treatment plan tailored to your individual needs. Early-stage cancer, for example, may only require surgery to remove the tumor. But more advanced cancers may require more aggressive treatments, including a combination of therapies, such as surgery with radiation therapy and chemotherapy.