There is a kind of carelessness called treating cancer as rhinitis!
Recently, according to “Jiangxi City Live”, a few months ago, 55-year-old Uncle Wang developed symptoms of rhinitis, with severe nasal congestion, repeated sneezing, and sometimes bleeding from his nose. To say that Uncle Wang is also big-hearted, he always thinks that this is a small problem of rhinitis, and he has been dragging it on and ignore it, thinking that it will be fine after a while.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse and worse, the family couldn’t sit still and hurriedly urged Uncle Wang to go to the hospital for examination. I don’t know if I don’t check it, but I’m shocked when I check it. It’s not rhinitis, but nasopharyngeal cancer! Fortunately, it was discovered not too late, and there was no metastasis. After radiotherapy, Uncle Wang gradually recovered his health.
Rhinitis is the most common minor illness, especially now that the seasons change, many people suffer from rhinitis attacks. But “rhinitis” may also be hidden behind the threat of cancer, must not be careless.
I. What is the difference between rhinitis and nasopharyngeal cancer?
There are many people in life who cannot distinguish rhinitis and nasopharyngeal cancer like Uncle Wang. In fact, these two diseases are different.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a malignant tumor that occurs in the nasopharynx, while rhinitis is an inflammatory disease of the nasal cavity. Inflammation of nasal mucosa caused by allergens and some systemic diseases, the main pathological changes are swelling, congestion, hyperplasia, exudation, necrosis or atrophy of nasal mucosa. Rhinitis usually presents with symptoms such as nasal congestion, runny nose, and sneezing.
Second, if long-term rhinitis, will it become nasopharyngeal cancer?
Rhinitis is a high-incidence disease. Many people suffer from rhinitis for a long time. Will rhinitis develop into nasopharyngeal cancer? This is the concern of many rhinitis patients.
President of Liaoning Jinqiu Hospital and member of Chinese Medical Doctor Association Otorhinolaryngologist Branch Bao Jimin said that although there is no drug to treat all types of chronic rhinitis, according to For different types of rhinitis, most rhinitis can be effectively controlled by standard medication or surgical treatment, generally not cancerous. However, the etiology of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is very complex, and it has not been completely conquered in the medical field.
The causes of rhinitis are different. At present, the medical community believes that there are three main pathogenic factors for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: genetic factors, such as family history of tumors, Especially those with a family history of nasopharyngeal cancer; Epstein-Barr virus infection; dietary habits and environmental factors, such as frequent eating of carcinogenic foods such as barbecue and salted fish.
Third, when these symptoms appear, don’t treat it as rhinitis again
Symptoms and symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer Rhinitis is quite different. If you have the following symptoms, you need to be alert that it may be nasopharyngeal cancer:
1. Nasal congestion
Nasal congestion is nasal One of the common symptoms of pharyngeal cancer is mainly caused by an enlarged tumor that blocks the nostrils. Although rhinitis can also cause nasal congestion, the nasal congestion caused by rhinitis is intermittent and alternating, and it has a lot to do with posture. The early stage of nasal obstruction caused by nasopharyngeal carcinoma is single nostril blockage. When the tumor continues to expand, both nostrils will be blocked, which has the characteristics of persistent and progressive.
2. Bloody nose
Nasopharyngeal cancer patients may have symptoms of blood in nose, but not every day occurs, usually occasionally, mainly morning. Some patients also withdraw from the nasal cavity and suck out the bloody nasal discharge, and then spit it out from the oropharynx, also known as “pharyngeal” epistaxis.
3. Tinnitus
In patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma whose lesions are located in the pharyngeal recess, it is caused by blocking or compressing the eustachian tube or pharyngeal orifice in the early stage. Tinnitus, symptoms such as hearing loss.
4. Headache
Persistent unilateral headache is likely to occur when the lesion invades the bones, blood vessels, nerves and other parts of the skull base , especially in the temporal, frontal, occipital and top regions. The headache caused by rhinitis is fleeting and the pain is not obvious, but the headache caused by nasopharyngeal cancer varies from mild to severe, and is most obvious at night. In severe cases, symptoms such as facial numbness may occur.
5. Neck mass
About 40% of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma have cervical lymphadenopathy as the first symptom, most of which no Painful lumps will increase progressively, with poor mobility and firm texture. In the early stage, it is usually unilateral neck swelling, which gradually develops to bilateral, even accompanied by local redness, swelling, heat and pain.
Fourth, these people need to pay more attention!
According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, about 80% of nasopharyngeal carcinomas occur in China, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients in my country are mainly distributed in In the southern coastal area, the 30-60-year-olds are more common, showing a clear trend of youth in recent years.
The following groups belong to high-risk groups of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and need to be more alert to the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma:
1. There is nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the family The patient population;
2. People with a history of chronic nasopharyngeal disease, long-term smokers, frequent exposure to oil fumes and chemical poisons;
3. Repeated unexplained nasal congestion , headache, tinnitus, bloody nose, hearing loss, epistaxis and other symptoms;
5. Local residents aged 30 to 59 years old and in areas with high incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer;
4. Neck of unknown cause Painless swollen lymph nodes can be palpated.
In short, there are many differences between rhinitis and nasopharyngeal cancer. Usually, you should pay attention to the symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer, and do not mistake nasopharyngeal cancer as Rhinitis and delay the opportunity for treatment.
References:
[1] Bao Jimin. Can rhinitis become cancerous? [J]. The Great World of Health, 2019(02):16-17.
< p>[2] Tu Enyi. When these symptoms appear, be careful to be entangled with nasopharyngeal cancer [J]. Family Medicine. 】You can also judge whether you are a high-risk group of nasopharyngeal cancer. Guangdong Disease Control.2015-04-13