ENT cancer: why it is absolutely necessary to consult if you have had these symptoms for at least 3 weeks: Femme Actuelle Le MAG

Each year in France, there are on average 15,000 new cases of head and neck cancer. However, these cancers still remain too little known. While head and neck cancer represents 5% of cancers worldwide, its incidence is increasing. “in a significative way”, as specified by the European Head & Neck Society (EHNS), which is launching its 11th information campaign from September 18 to 23. The objective is to help identify symptoms that should alert you.

Head and neck cancer: what are the risk factors?

In its information campaign, the European Head & Neck Society (EHNS) specifies that while men are between two and three times more likely to develop this type of cancer, its prevalence increases among women. Likewise, the foundation warns of the fact that “Head and neck cancer is more common in people over the age of 40, but there has recently been an increase in the number of young people developing the disease”.

Risk factors include smoking, regular alcohol consumption (more than three drinks per day in men and two drinks per day in women), as well as human papillomavirus, also known as HPV. . Some of these HPVs can “cause cancers in the back of the throat, at the base of the tongue and at the level of the tonsils, in an area called the oropharynx”, precise the European Head & Neck Society (EHNS).

ENT cancer: what are the symptoms that should alert you?

To help with the diagnosis of head and neck cancer, the European Head & Neck Society (EHNS) uses the mnemonic “1 for 3”. It means that “Treating physicians should refer the patient to a head and neck specialist as soon as the patient has had any of the symptoms below for more than three weeks”. In the columns of WorldProfessor Sébastien Vergez, co-head of the ENT committee of the IUCT-Oncopole of Toulouse, recalls that “taken in time, 90% of patients can be cured”.

Here are the symptoms that should alert you if they persist for more than 3 weeks:

• tongue pain,
• mouth ulcers that do not heal,
• the appearance of red or white spots in the mouth,
• pain in the throat,
• a persistent sneeze,
• painful swallowing,
• a lump in the neck,
• nose blocked on one side and/or bloody discharge from the nose.

Which organs are affected by head and neck cancer?

The most frequently affected areas, head and neck cancers, are first of all the oral cavity, in 42% of cases, then the pharynx in 35% of cases, then the larynx in 24% of cases. ‘explain the specialists. The latter specify that the vast majority (90%) of head and neck cancers “occur in the squamous cells that line the moist surfaces of the head and neck (for example, inside the mouth, nose, and throat).”

Among the organs that can be affected by ENT cancer, we note:

• the facial sinus,
• the nasal cavity,
• the oral cavity,
• language,
• salivary glands,
• the pharynx,
• the larynx.

However, it should be noted that brain and eye cancers are not head and neck cancers.

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