Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma is a cancer that develops in the nasopharynx, the area behind the nose and above the throat. Learn more about this rare cancer, its symptoms, and ways it can be treated in this video.
Avoid carcinogens
If suspected, see a doctor immediately
Discuss options
Treat as directed
Justin C. K. Davis, M.D. is one of San Francisco's finest house call specialist physicians, and has been providing house calls and office visits to the Bay Area since 2005. His practice is built upon a philosophy of excellent customer service and excellent patient care.
JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi. My name is Dr. Justin Davis, and today we will be discussing nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Now nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a kind of cancer that develops in the nasopharynx. The nasopharynx is located just behind the nose and just above the throat. It is an area that is often very difficult to actually see. Now the good news is, is that this is a very rare cancer that is only diagnosed in about 2,000 people every year in the United States. Usually people that are between the ages of 30 to 60 are the most common to be diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The symptoms are variable but usually because of its location will depend upon where exactly it is located so for example, maybe you are having difficulty breathing properly through your nose or you maybe you are having excessively bloody noses or spitting up bloody sputum. Maybe you just feel like there is something located in the back of your throat or near the top of it that you cannot get rid of, or often lymph nodes when you have cancer will be enlarged so maybe some lymph nodes underneath your chin or in the sides of your throat could constantly be enlarged for no known reason. And with any cancer, you may have some other kinds of symptom such as fever, chills, malaise, or fatigue where you are fatigued all the time. So what do we do to treat this once it is diagnosed? Treatment usually depends upon the stage of the cancer and where it is located just like with any other cancer. Typically, the treatments that we employ will be a combination of surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. How can you prevent this? We do not exactly know what causes this. It is always a good idea to avoid certain kinds of carcinogens, meaning things that cause cancer such as tobacco products, maybe chewing tobacco or cigarette smoke, and these are associated with many kind of cancer such as oral cancer and probably play a role in nasopharyngeal cancer as well. The important thing is, if you think that you may be having symptoms that could be some of the ones I described or anything else that you are concerned about, let a doctor know right away. It's probably not nasopharyngeal cancer, this is a very rare cancer, but it could be something else that is potentially serious and needs urgent attention.
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