PMore than 15,000 new cases of ENT cancers (ears, nose, throat, etc.) are diagnosed each year in France, according to the Cancer Institute. Although being the fifth cause of cancer, according to the University Cancer Institute of Toulouse, ENT pathologies remain largely ignored by the general public as well as by many professionals. However, they should be considered a political priority in terms of prevention and screening.
As the national vaccination campaign against papillomaviruses (HPV) begins for middle school students in 5th gradee, its role in the prevention of ENT cancers (beyond that of cervical, penile and anus cancers) among younger generations is still ignored. ENT cancers, and more generally head and neck cancers, are little known, so much so that 70% of patients are today diagnosed too late for effective treatment, notes the Gustave-Roussy Institute.
The first explanatory factor is that the initial symptoms of ENT cancers appear harmless and are not very painful: difficulty swallowing, blocked nostrils, persistent hoarseness, persistent mouth ulcers, etc. Health professionals remain insufficiently informed about these seemingly benign signs. Above all, they are still little aware of risk factors less widespread than tobacco, alcohol or viruses, the growing role of which is too little identified.
ENT cancers affect increasingly younger patients
Among the obstacles to early diagnosis, the weakness of our medical demographics (France has only three ENT doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the national order of doctors), slowing down appointment scheduling and fluidity of care pathways. Territorial inequalities add to the diagnostic complexity. Among the geographic determinants of ENT cancers, in addition to the lack of doctors, professional or environmental exposure in a given territory affects the prevention and screening of these cancers, as do social characteristics.
On this subject, the example of the Hauts-de-France region, which has an excess male mortality rate from cancer of 60%, is edifying, a differential of 50%, according to the local regional health agency, with other regions, and highlights inequalities in access to care pathways. This is all the more worrying as ENT cancers affect increasingly younger patients (regardless of their gender or lifestyle), and diagnostic wandering leads to mutilating treatments such as removal of the tongue, the jaw or even the nose.
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