Does radiotherapy make nasopharyngeal cancer worse?

It is normal for older people to have some hearing loss or blurred vision, but sometimes it is also an early symptom of some malignant diseases, so older people should pay more attention to the changes in themselves.

Three months ago, Ms. Zhao from Guizhou felt that her tinnitus, which had lasted for five or six years, suddenly became worse. The strange thing was that although it was more serious, it seemed that only the right ear was more serious, and there was no major change in the left ear. Thinking that it was normal to have some hearing loss and blurred vision at an older age, Ms. Zhao did not pay much attention to it. But not long after, she had a headache, which became more severe day by day. Finally, Ms. Zhao could not stand the headache any more and went to the hospital for a checkup.

I will not go into details in the middle. The doctor ordered a CT scan of the brain without hesitation. When the results came out, Ms. Zhao was shocked. Nasopharyngeal cancer? What kind of disease is this and how did she get this disease? Ms. Zhao had no idea. The doctor recommended radiotherapy, and Ms. Zhao did not think much about it, so she went for radiotherapy. But the worry is still to come. After receiving radiotherapy, Ms. Zhao felt that the tinnitus and deafness not only did not get better, but it got worse. She used to be deaf on one side, but now it has become bilateral deafness.

After examination, it was found that Ms. Zhao's deafness had turned into bilateral sensorineural deafness. The doctor said that this might be deafness caused by necrotizing radiotherapy, and there is no good way to prevent it except to reduce the radiation dose. But once it happens, it is irreversible. It is not caused by the further development of cancer as Ms. Zhao thought.

Ms. Zhao originally wanted to treat her tinnitus and deafness, but she didn't expect that she would become completely deaf during the treatment. However, there was one thing Ms. Zhao overlooked, that is, the nasopharyngeal cancer tumor was under control, which is the ultimate goal of radiotherapy after all.