Tobacco - the cause of nasopharyngeal cancer
(Baonghean.vn) - According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year there are about 6 million deaths worldwide due to diseases related to tobacco use. In Vietnam, according to statistics from the Central Cancer Hospital, the rate of lung cancer patients who smoke is 96.8%.
According to the Ministry of Health's report, in 2015 Vietnamese people spent 31,000 billion VND on health care.cigarette. Along with that, the total cost of treatment and loss due to loss of working capacity due to illness and premature death in 5 groups of diseases related tocigaretteLung cancer, upper gastrointestinal-respiratory tract cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cost 23,000 billion VND/year.
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Tobacco is a cause of nasopharyngeal cancer. Photo: Internet |
This disease is regionally specific, with the highest incidence in southern China. Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries have an average incidence. The cause of nasopharyngeal cancer has not been clearly identified. However, the three main risk factors are Epstein-Barr virus, genetics, and environment.
Because of its deep location, nasopharyngeal cancer is often difficult to detect early, and its symptoms are often confused with those of other organs. Therefore, patients often come to the hospital late or have been treated in other specialties such as ENT, ophthalmology, and neurology. Diagnosis of nasopharyngeal cancer is based on clinical signs, nasopharyngoscopy, radiography, cytology, and histopathology.
Radiation therapy is the main method used in nasopharyngeal cancer. For early stage disease, the 5-year survival rate is over 90%. A new treatment method is radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy, especially concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
When conducting a survey of 10 random people, 9 of the respondents knew that tobacco has serious effects and is the leading cause of nasopharyngeal cancer and lung cancer. However, it is worrying that no one clearly understands the mechanism of the disease as well as how to prevent and combat the harmful effects of tobacco.
Nasopharyngeal cancer is the leading disease among head-face-neck cancers and is one of the 10 most common cancers in Vietnam. There are 3 basic signs of nasopharyngeal cancer, which are migraine, tinnitus and coughing up blood. However, like many other cancers, nasopharyngeal cancer often has few specific symptoms in the early stages, so patients often do not pay attention and often confuse it with sinusitis when they only have a headache or a stuffy nose.
When the disease progresses to a severe stage, additional symptoms will appear such as: nose bleeds or congestion, bloody phlegm, ears may be affected, neck swelling from enlarged lymph nodes, drooping eyelids, dizziness... "If detected early, people with nasopharyngeal cancer can be cured. But in reality, more than 90% of patients with this cancer go to the doctor when the disease is in the late stage./.
