Information on Throat Cancer Cure

Throat cancer is a condition where cancer affects the vocal cords, voice box (larynx), or other areas of the throat. About 600 people in Victoria are diagnosed with cancer of the throat, mouth or nose each year. Throat cancer affects more men than women. It affects more people aged over 50 years than those aged under 50. Risk factors include smoking and heavy alcohol consumption. Smokers who drink heavily are at even greater risk.

Throat cancer often develops from squamous cells on the mucosal surfaces of the larynx, pharynx or mouth. Smoking cigarettes and drinking large quantities of alcohol can increase a person's risk for developing throat cancer. Head and neck cancers account for about 5 percent of cancers in the United States. Throat cancers usually develop around age 60, and men are 10 times more likely to develop them than women.

Mouth sores, tender gums, and a sore throat or esophagus often result from radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or infection. If you are under treatment for cancer and have a sore mouth or gums, see your doctor to be sure the soreness is a treatment side effect and not an unrelated dental problem. The doctor may be able to give you medicine that will control mouth and throat pain. Your dentist also can give you tips for the care of your mouth.

Throat Cancer Treatment

Surgical removal of the tumor, including all or part of the vocal cords (laryngectomy) may be necessary in some cases. If a laryngectomy is required, a surgical prosthesis (artificial vocal cords) may be implanted, voice aids may be used, or speech therapy may be recommended to teach alternative methods of speaking.

If the tumor that contains the cancer cells is small, either surgery or radiation therapy alone can be used to eliminate the tumor. If the tumor is not small, or has spread to lymph nodes in the neck, a more aggressive treatment of radiation and chemotherapy is often needed.

Rehabilitation therapy – this may include assistance from a dietitian, speech therapist and physiotherapist. Social workers, counsellors and clinical psychologists can help patients come to terms with the post-operative changes to their finances, social and professional lives, and appearance.

The decision of which treatment to pursue is made with your doctor (with input from other members of your care team) and your family members, but ultimately, the decision is yours.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Researchers are looking for effective drugs or drug combinations to treat throat cancer. They are also exploring ways to combine chemotherapy with other forms of cancer treatment to help destroy the tumor and prevent the disease from spreading. Chemotherapy is given at the time of radiation therapy in select tumors usually in the setting of a therapeutic clinical trial.

Radiation

At Mayo Clinic, patients receive state-of-the-art radiation therapy alone or combined with chemotherapy or surgery. Highly skilled radiation oncologists use radiation therapy for throat cancers of all stages, providing several types of radiation therapy, including intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy. A multidisciplinary team of oncologists evaluates patients with throat cancer and tailors treatments to each patient.

Angiogenesis inhibitors. Cetuximab (Erbitux) is a medication that stops the growth of new blood vessels that cancers need to grow. This drug has recently been approved for use along with chemotherapy in cancers of the oral cavity.