Mouth cancer, which is also known as oral cancer, commonly involves the tongue, lips, gums, palate as well as the mouth cavity's membrane lining.
Mouth cancer, which is also known as oral cancer, commonly involves the tongue, lips, gums, palate as well as the mouth cavity's membrane lining.
INTRODUCTIONKnow More Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is a type of cancer that begins in a part of the oral cavity or the oropharynx, a part of the throat found behind the mouth. It commonly involves the tongue, lips, gums, palate as well as the mouth cavity's membrane lining. This cancer is developed as the result of malignant cell growth.
Many types of cells make up the various parts of the oral cavity and oropharynx, and for each kind, different cancer can develop. These cancer cells can include squamous cell carcinomas.
Over 90 percent of oral cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, which are flat and scale-like cells forming the mouth and throat's lining. A squamous cell cancer called carcinoma in situ is in the cell layer called the epithelium at its earliest form.
An invasive squamous cell carcinoma has grown into the oral cavity or oropharynx's deeper layers. Meanwhile, a verrucous carcinoma, a type of squamous cell cancer, is slow-growing cancer that rarely spreads to other body parts. However, it can deeply grow into a nearby tissue that immediate removal of this type must be down along with a wide edge of surrounding normal tissue as parts of ordinary squamous cell carcinoma may grow inside verrucous carcinomas. Verrucous carcinomas that may already have areas of ordinary squamous cell cancer may spread to other body parts.
Oral cancer is one of the many types of cancer that people can contract. If this cancer is not diagnosed early and immediately treated, it can be life threatening.
It is the sixth most common type of cancer among men, with males accounting for 70 percent of all cases. Men over age 50 are at the greatest risk of developing this type of cancer.
RISK FACTORS Know More Risk factors may include age and sex, personal choices, and lifestyle activities including smoking, drinking, and diet.
SIGN & SYMPTOMS Know More Possible indications of Mouth Cancer include:
DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENTS Know More Procedures that may be done to examine the areas correctly include an indirect pharyngoscopy and laryngoscopy and direct pharyngoscopy and laryngoscopy. For the former, small mirror with long and thin handles will be used to view the throat, base of the tongue, and voice box. For the latter, a flexible fiber-optic scope called an endoscope would be put through the mouth or nose to see areas that the mirror may not reach such as the nasopharynx and voice box. Another option will be a panendoscopy.
To confirm a suspicious lump or area's make-up, a biopsy may be required where a small part of the tissue is removed and looked under a microscope. Through this procedure, the presence of cancer can be observed and confirmed. Different types of biopsy may be used to detect cancer, depending on the case. These types include exfoliative cytology, incisional biopsy, and fine-needle aspiration biopsy.
Aside from the tests mentioned above, imaging tests, such as chest X-ray, computed tomography or CT scan, magnetic resonance imaging or MRI, positron emission tomography or PET, and barium swallow, may also be done to help look for a tumor, how far cancer has spread, the effectiveness of the treatment, and the possibility of recurrence.
Treatment options for oral cancer are dependent on the location and the extent of how far cancer has spread.
In this stage, cancer has not penetrated the tissue's deep layers and is at the surface level. A surgery like the Mohs surgery is the typical option to remove the top layers of the affected tissue and the healthy tissue's small edge. With treatment, the chance of survival is high. However, signs of recurrence must be carefully monitored. If it happens, radiation therapy might be needed.
A surgery, together with radiation therapy, is often recommended for patients in these oral cancer stages. Another treatment option is chemotherapy along with chemoradiation. This option is usually done after surgery to ensure that no cancer cells have been left behind.
Treatment options for oral cancers in these stages are often treated with a combination of surgery and radiation as these cancers found in the mouth floor, front of the tongue, inside the gums, hard palate, and cheeks involve the presence of larger cancers that have spread to nearby lymph nodes and grown into nearby areas.
Meanwhile, oropharyngeal cancers are found in the soft palate, tonsils, and the back of the tongue. These cancers are large and have grown into nearby tissues or have spread to the lymph nodes in the neck. For these cancers, a combination of chemoradiation and cetuximab, man-made version of monoclonal antibody, an immune system protein. Surgery may also be conducted to remove any remaining cancer.
In these stages, the cancers have spread into nearby structures, and tissues with the stage IVC cancers have spread to other body parts like the lungs. Oral cancers of these stages are treated with chemo, cetuximab, or a combination of the two. Radiation may also be utilized to help relieve the cancer symptoms and prevent new problems from arising.
For cancer that has recurred, treatment options are dependent on the location, size, and spread of cancer. Previous treatments used, as well as, the patient's general health status is also considered.
The survival rate for oral cancer is dependent on location, relation to HPV, the extent of cancer, and how early it was detected and treated.