"You don't sound like you have throat cancer. That's because I'm on stage."
Last night on the Late Show with David Letterman there was a little comic relief about Michael Douglas' dire diagnosis -- stage 4 throat cancer.
“It’s just like Michael Douglas that has cancer, it’s the same as me. I’m stage 4,” said 58-year-old Steven Szalapiski of Hallandale Beach. He’s half way through his course of radiation treatments at Memorial Regional's Cancer Institute. Every year in the U.S., there are 50,000 new cases of a category known as head and neck cancers. They can present in various places.
“It starts from the back of the nose all the way down to the voice box, so we're talking about the oral cavity the tongue the mucosa in the mouth working back to the tonsil back or base of the tongue then down to larynx up and below the larynx, “ explained the Medical Director of Memorial Cancer Institute Dr. Srinath Sundararaman.
As in Szalapiski case, head and neck cancers are often advanced by the time they are diagnosed because the symptoms can be vague. He said it initially felt “like a potato chip that you didn't chew too much and you swallow it, and it sort of scratches, which happens every once in a while, but if it doesn't go away..."
Dr. Sundararaman describes the warning signs patients should check out: “The tongue and back of the tongue really radiates its nerve fibers to both ears, so ear pain should be looked at, any swelling discomfort, any slight asymmetry of the tongue, one side getting thicker than the other, any deviation of the tongue, any persistent trouble with something getting stuck in the throat."
Dr. Sundararaman describes the warning signs patients should check out: “The tongue and back of the tongue really radiates its nerve fibers to both ears, so ear pain should be looked at, any swelling discomfort, any slight asymmetry of the tongue, one side getting thicker than the other, any deviation of the tongue, any persistent trouble with something getting stuck in the throat."
Smoking and drinking alcohol are the main risk factors, but not always.
“We are seeing now very often younger patients who've never smoked and probably not due to second hand smoke exposure, but probably due to the human papillomavirus.”
That's right, HPV, the same strains implicated in cancer of the cervix are now causing head and neck cancers transmitted through oral sex.
That's right, HPV, the same strains implicated in cancer of the cervix are now causing head and neck cancers transmitted through oral sex.
Doctors believe the same HPV vaccine that protects against cervical cancer will also help prevent some cases of head and neck cancer.
