Avoid smoking, alcohol to check laryngeal cancer

Laryngeal (voice box) cancer is a cancer of the larynx, a part of the throat that contains the vocal cords and controls breathing and voice.

Q: What is laryngeal cancer?

Laryngeal (voice box) cancer occurs when a cell mutates and multiplies rapidly and occupies and damages the tissues. This constitutes roughly one third of all head and neck cancers. Laryngeal cancers can form in any of three main parts of the larynx — supraglottis (upper part) - 35% of laryngeal cancers start here; glottis (middle part) - 60% of cancers are in this region; and sub glottis (lower part) - 5% of laryngeal cancers are in this area.

Q: What are its symptoms and causes?

Most common symptom are hoarseness that doesn’t improve after few weeks (it’s easy to mistake it as a sign of cold/cough); sore throat or cough that doesn’t improve; pain/swallowing difficulties; lump in neck/ throat; trouble making sounds (dysphonia); ear pain; serious issues that warrant immediate medical attention; trouble breathing (dyspnea); noisy breathing (stridor); iIntractable pain and coughing up blood (hemoptysis)

Q: What causes laryngeal cancer?

Some form of human papilloma virus and sexually transmitted infection can cause laryngeal cancer. Excessive smoking and alcohol consumption have very high risk of getting the disease.

Q: What are the tests required for diagnosing laryngeal cancer?

Imaging scans CT/MRI to get feral images; laryngoscopy - direct visual view with endoscopy; PET scan - to know the spread in other areas of the body; biopsy- taking a small piece abnormal tissue to know the variety of the tumour and some protein markers to know the behaviour of the growth.

Q: What are the treatment options available?

The options available are: Radiation therapy - high energy radiation beams to kill cancer cells. Very useful in early stages of the disease and helpful in preserving the function of the organ; chemotherapy - medication to kill or slow the growth of cells; immunotherapy - treatment uses ones immune system to help fight cancer (also called biological therapy); targeted therapy - treatment targets cells with specific type of proteins preventing the cells from multiplying; surgery - for removing tumour while preserving one’s larynx and ability to speak and swallow and for advanced stage one need to remove the voice box. Many a times one needs to use more than one option to cure the disease.

Q: What surgical procedures are available?

The surgical options available are: Endoscopic removal of mass with coblator helps in removing mass while preserving the function; cordectomy - removing part/all of vocal cord endoscopically; supraglottic laryngectomy - removes upper part of the larynx; hemilaryngectomy - removing half of the larynx, preserving voice; partial laryngectomy - removal of part of larynx to retain one’s ability to speak; total laryngectomy- removal of whole of larynx in advance case.

Q: How can care team figure out best treatment for the laryngeal cancer?

Generally, a team will base the decision on several factors, including which treatment will preserve one’s ability to speak and swallow, age, other associated conditions, demands on your voice, including your job, how your voice sounds, smoking history, one’s ability to breathe and support system at home.

Q: What’s the outlook for people with laryngeal cancer?

Outlook depends on cancer stage, one’s age and overall health. Early cancer has a very good prognosis and is generally curable with normal life span. Even the advanced laryngeal cancer is curable with the existing treatment. After five years of treatment there is very low risk of recurrence.

Q: How can laryngeal cancer be prevented?

Quit smoking and avoid tobacco products, limit alcohol consumption and get treatment for alcohol use disorder and eating a healthy diet.