Really there is no such medical illness known as ?throat cancer?, although several sorts of cancer can arise in the throat and neck. The proper medical term for the throat is the ?pharynx?, which can be defined as: ‘the passage that ensures that food and drink go to the stomach and air to and from the lungs’.
The pharynx is made up of three parts: the oropharynx (the back of the mouth, including the soft palate and base of the tongue); nasopharynx (connecting the back of the nose to the back of the mouth); laryngopharynx (connecting the oropharynx and nasopharynx to the beginning of the gullet (oesophagus) and the windpipe (trachea) via the voice box (larynx)).
The laryngopharynx is occasionally known as the hypopharynx. ?Throat cancer? can be cancer of any of these, although the most common form of ?throat cancer? is nasopharyngeal cancer.
Just to make the term ?throat cancer? even more inadequate and puzzling, some people apply it to cancer of the thyroid gland (situated at the front of the base of the neck), cancer of the voice box (larynx), cancer of the gullet or cancer of the windpipe (trachea), which really comes into the lung cancer group.
Most head and neck cancerous cells are squamous, which is to say that they do not travel far from their origin, although they frequently affect the lymph nodes. In fact, the first indication of head or throat cancer is often an enlarged neck lymph node, which is also occasionally called throat cancer.
A different sign could be the appearance of white areas or spots in the mouth that will not respond to medication. Known as leukoplakia, 33% of them become cancerous. It is estimated that 7,000 Americans die of a throat cancer each year, often because it was detected late. Ethnicity might also play a part, since African American men are 50% more at risk of throat cancer than Caucasian men.
These cancers are quite painless in early stages and can be confused with toothache, earache, sore throat or croakiness. When established however, they develop very quickly, although if caught at an early stage, they can almost always be successfully removed.
There is a brand variety of reasons why someone can be at a heightened risk for a throat cancer, including smoking; chewing tobacco and other things, such as betel nut, gutkha, marijuana or pan; heavy alcohol consumption; poor diet resulting in vitamin deficiencies (worse if this is caused by substantial alcohol intake); weakened immune system; asbestos exposure; prolonged exposure to timber dust or paint fumes; exposure to petroleum, industrial chemicals, and being over the age of 55 years.
The existence of acid reflux disease (gastroesphogeal reflux disease – GERD) or larynx reflux disease can also be a key factor. In the case of acid reflux disease, stomach acids flow up into the oesophagus and harm its lining, making it more prone to throat cancer.
Because successful therapy depends on early detection, regular oral examination is suggested. Your dentist will have been trained to be on the look out for early symptoms, making a bi-annual visit to the dentist even more rewarding
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on quite a few subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer