How to preliminarily diagnose nasopharyngeal carcinoma

How to preliminarily diagnose nasopharyngeal cancer? Many people think that nasal diseases are not a big problem and will not cause harm to life, but this is actually a misunderstanding. Since the nose is located in the center of our face, if there is any problem with the nose, it is likely to cause some complications to the adjacent organs. Nasopharyngeal cancer has now become a global disease. Patients are not only in our country, but also in other countries. There are many nasopharyngeal cancer patients. With the continuous destruction of the social environment, the number of nasopharyngeal cancer patients in our country is constantly increasing. Due to people’s lack of knowledge about nasopharyngeal cancer, many patients are already in the late stage when they are diagnosed. So, how is nasopharyngeal cancer diagnosed? Do you know?

1. Nasopharyngeal endoscopy:

1) Indirect nasopharyngeal endoscopy: This is a simple, fast and effective examination method.

2) Fiberoptic nasopharyngoscope examination: This method is relatively simple, but the observation of the posterior nasal aperture and the anterior wall of the roof is not satisfactory. The posterior nasal aperture, nasal septum, posterior nasal cavity, lateral wall of nasopharynx, Eustachian tube, lateral fossa, back and posterior wall of soft palate, etc. can be observed.

2. Clinical examination:

In addition to examining the nasopharynx, nasal cavity, and oropharynx, nasopharyngeal carcinoma also requires examination of the head and face, regional lymph nodes for metastasis, and all body systems.

1) Head and neck examination: The nasal cavity, oropharynx, external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, eye socket, and soft palate should be examined for outward extension of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

2) Eyes: Common symptoms include decreased or absent vision, exophthalmos, orbital masses, and ptosis of the upper eyelid with fixed eyeball.

3) Cranial nerves: Local extension of nasopharyngeal carcinoma often causes damage to cranial nerves, thereby causing various neurological disorders in the head and face. Medical | Education Network collected and compiled.

3. X-ray examination:

X-ray examinations of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients can help understand the extent of the tumor and the destruction of the skull base, which is helpful for staging nasopharyngeal carcinoma, formulating radiotherapy plans, following up patients and evaluating prognosis. Commonly used X-ray examinations include lateral nasopharyngeal films and skull base films.

4. Radionuclide bone imaging diagnosis:

Radionuclide bone imaging is a non-invasive and highly sensitive diagnostic method. It is generally believed that the positive coincidence rate of bone scan in diagnosing bone metastasis is 30% higher than that of X-ray film, and lesions can be detected 3-6 months earlier.

5. CT examination:

CT scans for nasopharyngeal carcinoma can reveal the location of the tumor in the nasopharyngeal cavity, whether the lumen is deformed or asymmetric, and whether the pharyngeal recess is shallow or blocked. In addition, it can also show whether there is metastasis outside the nasopharyngeal cavity, such as the nasal cavity, oropharynx, parapharyngeal space, submental fossa, carotid sheath area, pterygopalatine fossa, maxillary sinus, ethmoid sinus, orbit, intracranial cavernous sinus, and retropharyngeal and cervical lymph nodes.

Nasopharyngeal endoscopy has outstanding value in diagnosing tiny tumors in the cavity, which are often not found by X-rays and CT scans. However, most posterior and lateral wall tumors grow submucosally and are difficult to detect by nasopharyngeal endoscopy, but can be clearly shown by lateral nasopharyngeal films and CT scans. CT scans show lateral wall tumors more clearly than X-rays.

6. B-type ultrasound examination:

B-mode ultrasound examination has been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. It is simple, non-invasive and well accepted by patients. In nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases, it is mainly used to examine the liver, neck, retroperitoneum and pelvic lymph nodes to understand whether there is liver metastasis and lymph node density, whether there is cysticity, etc.