Head & Neck Cancer

Now a days head and neck cancer is increasing day by day , this cancer effects the major parts of head including the face and neck portions, generally it gets started from the lips, oral cavity, inside the nose or nasal cavity, paranasal , pharynx and larynx, so as it covers all such parts so it causes different types of head and neck cancers such as mouth cancer, salivary gland cancer, throat cancer, lymph node cancer which is in the neck.

TYPES

The head and neck cancer includes many types of cancers including :

• Salivary gland cancer,
• Mouth cancer,
• Oropharyngeal cancer,
• Paranasal cancer,
• Nasopharyngeal cancer etc.,

CAUSES

The head and neck cancer is majorly caused by some very common activities such as tobacco consumption, smoking and alcohol intake all these enhances the risk of having the disease , in this tobacco plays one of the major role in the enhancement of the risk level of having this cancer.

AGE: those who are of age 40 - 45 and abovecome under high risk of having the head and neck cancer.

Whereas other reasons are also there like having poor gums and dental hygiene, history of the family, gender poor diet, weak immune system etc.

SYMPTOMS

After getting infected from the disease the symptoms starts occurring which may includes signs such as given below:

• Bad breath,
• Neck pain,
• Earache,
• Bleeding from mouth and gums,
• Sore tongue,
• Lumps in lips, moth and gums,
• Sore throat,
• Pain,
• Difficulty in swallowing food,

DIAGNOSIS

The symptoms plays the major role for the diagnosis of the disease as the symptoms are an important part of cancer care and treatment, after it if needed then many types of test also takes place such as physical examinations , diagnostic tests , serological tests.

TREATMENT

For the treatment of the head and neck cancer different types of treatments are available according to the diagnosis result and stage of the cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, external radiotherapy, targeted therapy, internal therapy are used for the cure of it.

PREVENTION

As it is known that the consumption of tobacco, smoking and alcohol mare the major risk factors so if the intake of such products reduces or stopped then it also reduces the chances of getting infected by the cancer. For this there are many kind of social programs and activities are also there to know about the side effects of tobacco in your life. Some other factors are also there which are also important like maintain proper care of gums and mouth, using good quality lipstick and lip balms.