Tongue cancer

Tongue cancer's disease overview

Tongue cancer is a very dangerous malignant disease that is common in the mouth-half area. In the early stages, the symptoms of the disease are often vague, and easily missed. Only when the disease is severe, the symptoms are frantic. Therefore, tongue cancer patients are usually diagnosed in the late stage.

Every year in the world, about 263,900 new tongue cancer patients and up to 128,000 deaths. In the US, in 2009, 10,530 new cases and 1900 patients died from tongue cancer (according to the American Cancer Association). In Vietnam, the incidence of tongue cancer is increasing.

Causes of Tongue cancer's disease

Currently, people are still unclear What is the cause of tongue cancer . However, some factors are thought to be the risk of tongue cancer:

  • Smoking.
  • Drink a lot of alcohol.

    • Chewing betel nut

    Poor oral hygiene. Nutrition: Lack of vitamins A, D, E; iron deficiency; ...

    microorganisms: Bacteria can directly act on gene changes or indirectly causing inflammation, resulting in tongue cancer. The HPV virus is considered a risk factor for tongue cancer.

    Symptoms of Tongue cancer's disease

    What are the symptoms of tongue cancer?

    In the first stage, in the early stages of tongue cancer, the patient may have no symptoms or symptoms very poorly. They are unclear and easy to confuse with common diseases, making many patients subjective and not seeing the doctor. Symptoms that may occur in the early stages of the disease include:

  • Patients with discomfort in the tongue area: This feeling is like an object or fishbone plugged into the tongue, but only fleeting.
  • There is a block of tongue surface: changes, white mucosa, solid, solid lesions, can be in fibrous or small ulcer.

    • Occellation: may be seen in some tongue cancer patients in the early stages of the disease. The full phase of

    in the full stage, symptoms begin to appear clinically, greatly affecting the life of the patient, so tongue cancer is often Discovery at this stage.

  • Tongue pain: This is a very common symptom in patients with tongue cancer. Continuous pain, and increased pain when the patient speaks or chewing, especially eating spicy, hot foods. Occasionally, pain can spread to the ears.
  • Increase salivation.
  • Bleeding in the mouth: Blood blends into saliva, and when spitting red saliva.
  • Breathing with unpleasant smell: Due to necrotic cancer organization.
  • Hard to say, difficult to swallow: due to the tongue is fixed, tight jaw.
  • Infection: Patients with fever, fatigue, anorexia.
  • Weight loss: Due to pathology and failure.
  • Examination of the tongue seeing ulcers or large core in the tongue: ulcers develop and spread quickly, limiting the movement of the tongue; Outside the ulcer has fake, it is easy to bleed. The ulcer may not be seen, but instead is a large corpse of the tongue mucosa rising, on the surface of the mucosa there are small holes that when pressed with white fluid flowing out, proving that there is necrosis below.
    • The progressive stage

    The disease progresses quickly in a bad direction. The ulcer dominates at this stage, the ulcer is deeply ingrained below and spreads around, causing the patient to intense pain, prone to bleeding and superinfection. Damage to necrosis should often smell. The examination of the patient is essential for the doctor to preliminary evaluation of the size of the tumor as well as the invasive characteristics of the tumor down and out of the surrounding tissue (mouth floor, amygdale, tongue groove. , ...). The examination can cause more patients' pain to increase, so they often have to anesthetize before the examination to minimize pain reactions in the patient.

    End -stage tongue cancer

    at this stage, tongue cancer symptoms become more frantic and severe. Some symptoms may be found in end -stage patients:

  • Fast weight loss: This sign may indicate that the disease is getting worse.
  • Fatigue: In the final stage, the patient is more often tired.
  • Gastrointestinal disorders: Eat well, flatulence, bloating after eating, nausea, defecation disorders, blood stools, ...
    • For a long time: can signal a bad condition in the patient.
  • metastatic lymph nodes: common is the lymphadenopathy under the chin, the lymph nodes under the jaw, rarely metastatic lymph nodes between and below.
  • Tongue damage: Usually on the free edge of the tongue (80%), sometimes it can be seen in other positions such as the underside (10%), the upper tongue (8 %), tongue (2%).

    • People at risk for Tongue cancer's disease

    Cancer of tongue is common in people over 50 years old, most of which are men. People with poor oral hygiene, often smoking, drinking a lot of alcohol, having a habit of chewing betel nut, or infected with viruses like HPV ... are the risks of tongue cancer. In particular, research by Rosswell Park Cancer Center, USA shows that men with chronic tooth disease, whether smoking or not, also increases the risk of tongue cancer. Research also shows that, if the alveolar bone is 1mm (in inflammatory disease around the teeth), the risk of tongue cancer increases 5.23 times.

    Prevention of Tongue cancer's disease

    Tongue cancer can be prevented by keeping oral hygiene. Removing bad habits such as smoking, limiting alcohol, leaving the habit of chewing betel nut, ... also contributes to reducing the risk of tongue cancer.

    When there are any abnormal signs, it is necessary to immediately go to medical facilities to be able to detect early and timely treat tongue cancer.

    Diagnostic measures for Tongue cancer's disease

  • Clinical symptoms: The signs that make the patient go to the doctor will be the first orientation for the doctor to conduct a clinical examination, thereby having a preliminary diagnosis, in which the mandarin The most important is tongue examination and lymphadenopathy to detect lesions.
    • Biopsy: is considered a gold standard for diagnosis to identify types of cancer in general and tongue cancer in particular. The sample of the specimen can be taken by thrust on the lesions at the tongue or the suction of the lymphadenopathy.

    Imaging techniques such as X-rays of the lower jaw bone, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI: to assess the metastasis of the disease.

    Systemic radiation: Allows the distant metastatic detection of tongue cancer.

    Tongue cancer's disease treatments

    Tongue cancer is difficult to detect early because the symptoms of the disease are too vague. Patients often come to the hospital when cancer injuries are no longer localized, it has invaded and spread around. Therefore, the planning to treat tongue cancer depends heavily on the specific condition of the patient. Some types of lesions such as papilloma, human body, and ulcers detected in the early stage can be thoroughly treated with surgery or radiation. The patient was admitted to the hospital later, the treatment became more complicated, sometimes having to combine many methods.

    Surgery
  • Early stage: Surgery is considered the most basic treatment for early tongue cancer patients. The patient will be treated with a simple surgery. The doctor will base on the characteristics of the tumor (location, size, ...) to give appropriate indications on each specific patient:

    • Wide surgery.

    Partial tongue surgery + Lymphadenopathy.

    Surgery to cut half of the tongue + cut half of the mouth floor + Cut the lower jaw bone + dredge neck lymph nodes + shaping.

  • The later stage: If the surgery is likely, the doctor will perform surgery for the patient, and combine with one or more other methods such as chemotherapy and radiation.
    • radiation therapy has made a significant contribution to the treatment of tongue cancer for patients. However, the side effects in radiation patients, such as dry mouth, inflammation of the mouth, skin, skin ulcers, jaw tightness, ... are unavoidable.

  • Radiation therapy: radiation therapy can be indicated for patients with tongue cancer early detection; In addition, radiation therapy is also a treatment for patients with tongue cancer too surgical stage,
  • Radiation therapy after surgery: The purpose of radiation therapy in this case is to destroy the remaining cancer cells after surgery, bringing greater efficiency Compared to simple surgery.
  • Local radiation (approaching radiation): In addition to conventional radiation, there is now close radiation, meaning using radioactive sources to close to cancer lesions Tongue mail to destroy malignant lesions on the spot.

    • Radiation therapy with brain or radiation with gamma knife: Treatment of brain metastatic lesions, to improve the quality of life and prolong the time for patients. > chemotherapy

    chemotherapy is to use chemicals to be put into the patient's body to treat cancer, which can be chemotherapy with systemic or local sugar (tongue artery). Depending on the specific case, the doctor will prioritize the use of dwarf or multi -chemotherapy for patients.

    Chemotherapy may be prescribed before surgery or radiation (called supplementary chemotherapy) to shrink damage and help increase the effectiveness of the main treatment method. Chemotherapy before surgery brings benefits in the treatment of late -stage head cancer.

    See also:

  • Having an ulcer for tongue does not feel pain is a manifestation of cancer? What is the function of diagnosis, diagnosis and treatment
    • What function does the tongue have? Interesting things about tongue

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