What causes mouth and throat cancer and its treatment? Overview When a person has cancer, his or her cells start to grow uncontrollably, which then invade and damage the surrounding tissues. Oral cancer is the type of cancer that occurs as a growth or sore in the mouth or upper throat that does not go away. What are the signs and symptoms of mouth and throat cancer? According to the leading oncologist in Gurgaon, the very early signs and symptoms of mouth and throat cancer may not be noticeable. Nevertheless, the signs and symptoms may include all or any of the following: ● A lump on the lips, in the mouth or in the throat that is painless; ● Ulceration or sore in the mouth or on the lips that does not heal; ● White or red patches on the gums, tongue or the lining of the mouth that is painless; ● Pain, bleeding or numbness inside the mouth that cannot be explained; ● A sore throat; ● Chewing or swallowing becoming difficult and painful; ● Jaw swelling up; ● Voice becoming hoarse or going through other changes; ● Pain in the ears.
What are the causes of mouth and throat cancer? The causes of mouth and throat cancer can be divided into two groups - avoidable causes and unavoidable causes.
Unavoidable causes Age and gender are the two risk factors for mouth and throat cancer that cannot be controlled or avoided by anyone. With age, you continue to be more and more at risk of mouth and throat cancer. Also, men are twice as more likely to suffer from this type of cancer than women. Avoidable causes The risk factors that can be avoided include the following: ● ● ● ● ●
All forms of smoking; Chewing tobacco; Excessive consumption of alcohol; Spending too much time in the sun; Chewing betel nut.
What does mouth and throat cancer treatment involve?
When you go to a cancer hospital in India for treatment, you will have three options at your disposal - surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Surgery is an ideal treatment option when the cancer is in its earlier stages or, in some instances, at a later stage. The surgery is done in order to remove the tumour along with those surrounding tissues, lymph nodes, blood vessels, nerves, and muscles which have been affected. In radiation therapy, a high energy beam is used to kill the cancer cells. Radiation therapy can be used instead of surgery for stage l and stage ll cancers. However, for more advanced stages, both radiation therapy and surgery are required. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. It is often used before surgery to reduce the size of cancer, after surgery or in combination with surgery and radiation therapy. If you or any of your loved ones are at risk of mouth and throat cancer, you must rush to our best mouth cancer hospital in India immediately without any delay.