Tongue pain should alert you to tongue cancer. What are the early symptoms of tongue cancer?

In the cold winter, eating a bowl of spicy hotpot or hot pot on the street is the "best choice" for most people, but experts say that due to the low cost of spicy hotpot and barbecue, the oil and soup often contain excessive bacteria. Some vendors also use formalin to preserve freshness, which is a certain carcinogenic factor. It is recommended that "citizens should not eat too hot spicy hotpot, hotpot, etc. because the oral and stomach mucosa can withstand a temperature of 50℃-60℃, and excessively high temperatures will cause damage to the mucosa and cause tongue cancer, esophageal cancer, etc. It is recommended to cool hot food in a soup bowl before eating it."

Tongue pain may alert you to tongue cancer

In this era of cancer fear, tongue cancer is less often mentioned. But its threat is equally worthy of our attention. Tongue cancer is the most common oral cancer. It is more common in men than in women. Tongue cancer mostly occurs at the edge of the tongue, followed by the tip and back of the tongue.

In the early stages of tongue cancer, there are three types of manifestations: ulceration, exophytic and invasive. In some cases, the first symptom is only tongue pain, which can sometimes be reflected in the temporal region or ear. The exophytic type may come from the malignant transformation of papilloma. The invasive type may have no protrusions or ulcers on the surface and is the most likely to delay the disease, so patients often cannot detect it early.

Tongue cancer often presents with ulcers and infiltration, accompanied by spontaneous pain and varying degrees of tongue movement disorders. In the late stage of tongue cancer, it can directly exceed the midline or invade the floor of the mouth, as well as infiltrate the lingual periosteum, bone plate or bone of the mandible; it can extend backward to the root of the tongue or the anterior pharyngeal pillar and the lateral wall of the pharynx. At this time, tongue movement can be severely restricted and fixed, saliva increases and overflows, and it cannot be controlled. Eating, swallowing, and speaking are all difficult; the pain is severe and can be reflected to half of the head. The lymph node metastasis rate of tongue cancer is relatively high, usually around 40%, and the most common metastatic site is the deep cervical lymph node group. In the late stage of tongue cancer, lung metastasis or distant metastasis to other parts of the body may occur.

The five-year survival rate for tongue cancer is over 60%

The diagnosis of tongue cancer is generally easy. However, we should be vigilant for early stage tongue cancer, especially the invasive type. Palpation is more important than inspection for the diagnosis of tongue cancer. Biopsy should be performed to confirm the diagnosis. According to data from my country, the 3-5 year survival rate of surgical treatment is generally above 60%. The survival rate of T1 cases can reach above 90%.