Overview of Throat Cancer
The throat is a tube-like structure that starts behind the nose and ends in the neck region. It covers the vocal box, vocal cord, tonsils area, and pharynx. So throat cancer refers to the cancer of the vocal cords, vocal box, tonsils, and oropharynx. It is a group of cancer associated with the throat area, which involves more than one part of the throat.
It has two categories of throat cancer one is pharyngeal cancer, and another one is laryngeal cancer.
- Pharyngeal cancer: it develops in the neck and throat. It covers nasopharynx, oropharynx cancer, and hypopharynx cancer.
- Laryngeal cancer: it covers our vocal box area of throat vocal box cancer/ glottis cancer.
Types of throat cancer:
It comes with abnormal growth of abnormal cells of the throat. This is divided into two types of throat cancer:
- Squamous cell carcinoma: It is the most common form of throat cancer that affects flat cells lining the throat. So squamous cell carcinoma affects the layers of the throat.
- Adenocarcinoma: It affects the glandular structure or the glandular cells of the throat. Tonsils cancer and the lymph nodes cancer of the throat area comes under adenocarcinoma.
Sign and Symptoms
- Chronic hoarseness of throat.
- Sore throat.
- Change in voice.
- Difficulty in swallowing the food even sometimes difficult to drink water or liquid.
- Unexplained weight loss.
- Swollen lymph nodes of the neck region.
- Pain in the throat and ear.
- Chronic cough with some time bleeding from the throat.
- Swollen and inflamed tonsils.
- Recurrent fever.
- Loss of appetite.
- Swelling of the jaw.
When to see a doctor
Prolonged suffering from abnormal problems or symptoms of the throat without any outward reasons indicates to meet a doctor for a checkup and the investigations.
Causes
The cause of throat cancer is not known exactly. But the use of tobacco, alcohol, or smoking leads to throat cancer.
And sometimes, human papillomavirus infection causes squamous cell carcinoma.
Abnormal genetic mutation or uncontrolled growth of the cells leads to the malignant growth of throat tumors.
Risk factors
- Use of tobacco.
- Smoking.
- Unhygienic oral health.
- Poor nutrition.
- Poor dental health with prolonged infection.
- Genetic syndromes.
- Family history.
- Excessive alcohol consumption.
- Human papillomavirus(HPV).
Prevention
Throat cancer can be prevented by applying some good habits and daily routine like:
- By stopping smoking.
- Choosing a healthy diet pattern which involves the intake of fruits and vegetables.
- Protecting yourself from sexually transmitted viruses like human papillomavirus.
- Avoid regular intake of alcohol.
- By avoiding the intake of tobacco.
- Keep healthy oral hygiene.
Diagnosis
- Imaginary test: It is done by screening.
- USG: Ultrasound of throat or neck region.
- MRI( Magnetic Resonance Imaging): It is done by radioactive magnetic waves to see the overall picture of the throat from inside. Tumors or other structural changes are seen in the MRI.
- X-ray.
- Barium test.
- CT Scan: Computer tomography procedure to see soft tissue or the internal organ.
- Pet Scan: Positron emission tomography. It is an advanced test done in cancer. This is done by injecting a radioactive dye into the bloodstream. So this test creates the image of the areas in which this dye is seen, these prominent area shows the appearance of cancer affected region.
- Biopsy: This is done by taking a piece from the suspected site or tumor growth, to know about the nature of the disease.
- Fine Needle Aspiration(FNAC): It is done by inserting a needle into a tumor to take a sample of the cells.
Homeopathic Treatment of Throat Cancer at Dr. Chhabra
Treatment at Dr. Chhabra helps in controlling the growth of cancer cells, along with reducing the size of already developed tumors.
Nausea while eating, slurred speech, loss of appetite, unhealed wounds, all these complications are managed completely with our treatment.
Homeopathic treatment can treat the throat cancer patient, by helping him in the removal of the painful symptoms of cancer.
Our homeopathy medicines boost the energy of patients by recovering the weakness of cancer.
We have medicines that control or remove the side effects of other treatment therapies like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormonal therapies.
Our medicines help in boosting the immunity of the patient so that patients can face other treatment therapies.