Cancer of the larynx

The department of the upper respiratory tract, the larynx, connects the pharynx with the trachea and is located in the front of the upper part of the neck. This anatomical education provides an opportunity for a person to talk, protects from ingestion of food in the respiratory tract.

Laryngeal cancer is a serious enough malignant disease, the number of patients who, according to statistics, increases every year by ten percent.

Signs of the disease "cancer of the larynx" are quite diverse. They, in the main, depend on the form of the tumor, the place of its growth and the extent of its spread. The initial period of this disease is accompanied, as a rule, by rather insignificant symptoms - feeling of persecution, tickling in the throat, sensation of foreign education, inconvenience of swallowing, quick fatigue during the conversation, that is, complaints that are inherent and non-tumor ailments.

Cancer of the larynx arises because of many causes that contribute to the onset of many cancer diseases. Among them are bad habits, the impact of the environment, the nature of nutrition, and the way of life. However, the most important factor, which is considered to be the main one throughout the world, is smoking. For sure everyone knows about the dangers of smoking, but very few people part with this very bad habit.

It would be a mistake to think that laryngeal cancer only arises from tobacco. Its origin is to no small extent promoted by unlimited consumption of alcoholic beverages, professional factors, such as the inhalation of various toxic substances, as well as many physical factors.

The most common form of this disease is squamous cell carcinoma, while others, such as adenocarcinoma, solid and others, are very rare.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx develops in the mucous membranes and skin. A tumor usually consists of atypical cellular formations that grow into a tissue, forming on it unique nests, and destroy it. Sometimes these cells are capable of keratinization - then atypical formations resemble cancer pearls.

Cancer of the larynx, whose treatment is due to the course of the disease and its propensity to metastasis, has several degrees.

Three methods are used to combat this cancer: radiation, surgical and combined.

In cancer of the vocal cords , surgical intervention and X-ray therapy are usually equally used. And with the defeat of the middle and other departments, surgical treatment is applied, which is well complemented by X-ray therapy. Radiation therapy may be prescribed before or after surgery. The upper laryngeal cancer is usually treated by irradiation, while the lower part of this organ shows a combined method.

In the treatment of laryngeal cancer, chemotherapy should be regarded only as an additional method of combating the disease, which is prescribed in conjunction with the surgical and radiation.

The first and second degrees of damage to this disease are treated with both surgical and radial methods, laryngeal cancer of the 3rd degree - by a combined method, while treatment of the patient with the 4th degree is carried out with the help of such activities as gastrostomy, tracheostomy, vascular bandaging, and also anti-inflammatory and analgesic therapy .

According to statistical indicators, laryngeal cancer occurs mainly in men aged 40-60 years, they constitute the main contingent of patients, approximately 80% of the total. And almost at twenty percent this diagnosis is revealed already on 4 stages of this oncological disease, when they first seek help from a doctor.

Residents of cities and industrial regions are liable to cancer of the larynx twice as much as people living in rural areas. They need to take special care of themselves.