Sore throat, persistent mouth ulcer, lymph node… The symptoms of ENT cancers are not worrying but often ignored, leading to a late diagnosis.
The French Society of Cervico-Facial Carcinology wants to “take cancer in the throat”. For the fourth year, this learned society is organizing an awareness week for cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (VADS), from September 19 to 23. Throughout this campaign, screening actions are offered. But the goal is broader: it is to educate the public, and health professionals, to extremely common symptoms.
Tobacco, occupational exposure …
Behind the pun of this campaign hides a very dark reality: in 2015, 14,700 people – mainly men – developed ASD cancer. “Men are even more affected than women but we are seeing an increase in the incidence in the latter because of smoking”, underlines Antoine Moya-Plana, of the Gustave-Roussy Institute (Villejuif, Val-de-Marne) .
Cases are also on the rise among those 45-50 years old, possibly due to high exposure to the HPV virus. People at risk must be particularly attentive: smokers, alcohol users, construction workers are regularly exposed to elements that promote the formation of tumors.
It is not only the throat that is affected: mouth, esophagus, are other organs affected. But diagnosis is often late, reducing patients’ chances of survival. Spotted in time, however, these tumors heal in 80 to 90% of cases.
70% late diagnoses
The problem lies in the symptoms of the disease. They are terribly common: throat pain, persistent canker sore or ear pain. “A third of ENT cancers will show up through a simple swelling lymph node, thus illustrates Dr José Rodriguez, from Institut Curie (Paris). So there is a lump in the neck. Worse: “They are felt by all French people, several times a year,” adds Antoine Moya-Plana.
A sign should alert, reminds the campaign: symptoms that last abnormally long. Beyond three weeks of pain, a consultation with an ENT specialist is warranted. At present, this reflex is struggling to take hold: 70% of VADS cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. The consequences on the functioning of the affected areas, and even on the aesthetic level, are therefore more serious.
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