Throat cancer - Symptoms, causes and Treatment. Laryngeal Cancer and Pharyngeal Cancer

Throat cancer is a general term, that applies commonly 2 types of cancers: Laryngeal cancers and pharyngeal cancers. Pharyngeal cancers are near esophagus and back of the tongue, while laryngeal cancers near voice box.
Main symptoms of these cancers are:
throat pain, shortness of breath, persistent sore throat or cough, coughing up blood
changes to the voice such as hoarseness, difficulties swallowing, feeling there is something stuck in the throat, lumps in the neck or throat and sudden unexplained weight loss.
Laryngeal cancers represent one-third of head and neck cancers and may be a significant source of morbidity and mortality. They are most often diagnosed in patients with a significant smoking history.
Early stage disease is usually highly curable with either surgical or radiation monotherapy, often larynx-preserving. The late-stage disease is associated with worse outcomes, warrants multimodal therapy, and is less likely to allow for the preservation of the larynx.
Smoking is the most significant risk factor for cancers of the larynx, associated with an estimated 70% to 95% of all cases.
An association with heavy alcohol consumption has also been characterized, though the independent effect of alcohol is not clear given that combined use with tobacco is noted in most cases. Marijuana smoking may play a role in younger patients.
Other risk factors for laryngeal cancer and other throat cancers include the following:
Advanced age,
Diet low in green leafy vegetables.
Infection with HPV,
Diet rich in fats and salt-preserved meat.
The mean age of patients is 65 years.
The vast majority of laryngeal cancers are well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. A minority of cases represent squamous cell variants.
Patients are typically male with a history of current or past tobacco smoking. Hoarseness is often an early presenting symptom of glottic cancers due to vocal cord immobility or fixation, with pain with swallowing and referred ear pain indicating advanced disease. In contrast, pain with swallowing is the most common early symptom of supraglottic cancer, with hoarseness indicating advanced disease extending into the glottis.
Nodal metastases present as fixed, firm, painless masses in the neck. Late symptoms across all subsites include weight loss, dysphagia, aspiration, and its sequelae, and airway compromise.
The most crucial component of a physical examination is an invasive assessment of the primary lesion, including indirect laryngoscopy, mirror exam, and often fiberoptic endoscopy.
The most valuable diagnostic method are biopsy during direct laryngoscopy of the suspected primary lesion, and fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of any suspected nodal disease.
late stage, imaging of the primary lesion and draining lymph nodes is indicated, usually with contrast-enhanced CT of the neck.
Treatment is surgical and surgical and radiation.
Early-stage laryngeal cancers, Stage I and II, without lymph node metastases, are treated successfully with a single, locally-directed treatment modality, whether local radiation therapy or surgery.
Prior to any surgery, blood work is necessary that includes CBC, platelet count, liver and renal function, blood type, thyroid function, electrolytes, and albumin levels.

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By Tavin - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/....w/index.php?curid=17

• Category

  Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancer