Can chronic pharyngitis progress to cancer?

Definitive treatment of pharyngitis takes time, while patients often stop taking the drug when their symptoms decrease, causing the sore throat to turn chronic. If not promptly examined and treated, the disease can cause dangerous complications, including nasopharyngeal cancer.

Chronic pharyngitis is inflammation of the throat that lasts for more than a week. Pharyngitis becomes chronic as a result of repeated acute pharyngitis or unresponsiveness to therapeutic drugs. The disease manifests itself in four forms: simple congestion, exudation, hypertrophy and atrophy.
Typical of chronic pharyngitis are chronic VA and chronic tonsillitis. In addition, the disease is also caused by a number of other causes such as bacterial infection, viral infection; smog and air pollutants; Chronic sinusitis; Gastroesophageal reflux .

Symptoms of chronic pharyngitis are prolonged and repetitive in nature. Typical symptoms of the disease include:
Sore throat: Pain lasts for many weeks, accompanied by burning, itching, dry feeling, stuck in the throat. This symptom usually appears in the morning, there may be a lot of phlegm in the throat. Difficulty swallowing, feeling pain when swallowing through the throat Cough: Cough lasts for weeks, persistent sputum production Voice becomes hoarse, or loses voice Burning behind the sternum in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Because pharyngitis has turned chronic, systemic symptoms such as fever > 38 degrees Celsius, fatigue, and headache usually do not appear anymore. These symptoms disappear, making the patient subjective that the disease has improved without knowing that it has become chronic.

Chronic pharyngitis can only be completely treated when the cause is identified and eliminated. Like other diseases, pharyngitis is treated in the following two directions:
3.1 Treating the cause If the patient has sinusitis, rhinitis, and tonsillitis that does not go away for a long time, leading to chronic pharyngitis, it is treated with antibiotics. birth as directed by the doctor. Chronic pharyngitis due to gastro-duodenal reflux syndrome is indicated to use proton pump antagonists. If the patient has a history of smoking, long-term alcohol consumption leading to recurrent pharyngitis, it is necessary to instruct the patient to eliminate those causative factors. 3.2 Symptomatic treatment If there are symptoms of fever, headache, runny nose, sputum irritation, the doctor will prescribe pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs. If there are symptoms of a cough, a cough suppressant is prescribed. Dirty mouth, bad breath, rinse your mouth with antiseptic solutions containing liquid iodine, physiological saline. Many secretions in the nose are washed with physiological saline. In addition, in order to strengthen the body's resistance, patients should build a healthy lifestyle, a diet rich in green vegetables, fruits, vitamin C, vitamin A and keep a clean living environment to avoid creating harmful conditions. conditions for bacteria to grow.

Patients subjectively create conditions for the disease to worsen and cause complications. If the condition is too severe, untreated treatment will increase the risk of turning into cancer. However, this also depends on the patient's location and immune system. The disease also causes the formation of granulomatous tissue, many lymphoid tissues, causing abscess syndrome, inflammation around the nasopharynx. For patients with rhinitis syndrome, sinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, severe disease can lead to pneumonia, acute bronchitis. If not treated in time, it will damage cells, causing them to multiply out of control, causing cancer.

In order for pharyngitis not to recur, the patient needs to be treated definitively the cause of the disease, especially following the instructions and advice of the doctor. In addition to taking the full daily medication, patients also need to adhere to some of the following tips:
Maintain oral hygiene, brush teeth and rinse mouth after meals Do not smoke, abstain from alcohol Avoid eating foods that are too cold or too cold. too hot. Always keep the body warm, especially the neck area in winter Practice deep breathing To detect and diagnose nasopharyngeal cancer in time, in order to have appropriate treatment measures, Vinmec International General Hospital has a Screening Package and early detection of oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal, and laryngeal cancers, including a full range of necessary services to help early detection of oropharyngeal cancer. Detect other abnormalities in the arch - hypopharynx - larynx area.
The following people at risk of oropharyngeal cancer should screen for cancer early to detect the disease in time:
Customers who have a family history of oropharyngeal cancer Customers who smoke, drink alcohol Many customers have unusual symptoms regularly: nosebleeds, headaches, ringing in the ears, stuffy nose, swollen lymph nodes in the neck... Customers in need should have regular check-ups to screen for cancer. nasopharynx.