Nasopharyngeal Cancer
Nasopharyngeal is the upper part of the throat, behind the nose, extends from the base of the skull to the upper surface of the soft palate.
Cancer is cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. There are many kinds of cancer, but they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells. And cancer cells continue to grow and form new abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also spread into other tissues. Nasopharyngeal Cancer is a type of head and neck cancer. It is a type of cancer that affects the part of the throat connecting the back of the nose to the back of the mouth. It also be called nasopharyngeal carcinoma or NPC. There are 3 types of NPC, based on how the cancer cells look under the microscope. …show more content…
Such as having a diet very high in salt-preserved foods such as salt-cured meats and fish, being exposed to the EBV (Epstein - Barr virus, a common virus that cause glandular fever), regularly exposed to hardwood dust or have relatives who had these conditions before. So Nasopharyngeal cancer is more common in Southern China because the environment in there is conform.
In southern China, especially in Cantonese. Intake of salted fish and other preserved foods is higher than other area. Furthermore, salted fish is a traditional weaning food for babies, it seems more strongly related to it. So if people of Southern China move to other places that has a lower rate of nasopharyngeal cancer, they will have a lower risk of nasopharyngeal cancer. But they still have a high rate of nasopharyngeal cancer because they were born in there. And nasopharyngeal cancer is found about twice as often in males as it is in females (www.cancer.org, …show more content…
In 0 stage, the abnormal cells are found. In I stage, the cancer was form. In stage II, cancer cell is found in the parapharyngeal space. In stage III, cancer cells has spread nearby bones or sinuses. And in stage IV, nasopharyngeal cancer is divided into stages IVA, IVB, and IVC. IVA is cancer cells spread beyond the nasopharynx, cranial nerves, or the hypo-pharynx. IVB is cancer has spread to lymph nodes between the collarbone and the top of the shoulder. IVC is Cancer has spread beyond nearby lymph nodes to other parts of the body.
There are different types of treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer. Such as radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, biologic therapy, and IMRT (use computer to generate the size and shape of the tumor).
To treat the nasopharyngeal cancer, there are several stages. First, doctor usually uses radiation therapy to the tumor and lymph nodes in the neck. Second stage is chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy. The third is to use radiation to remove cancer. The final step is a clinical trial of new radiation therapy such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy.
The chance of recovery and survival rate depend on the stage of the cancer, the type of the tumor, the type of nasopharyngeal cancer, the patient’s age and general health. In stage one, the average survival rate is about 72%, stage two is 64%, stage three is 62% and stage four only has