Mouth Cancer Archives - Cancer Rounds

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22nd
Feb 2022

Untreated Mouth Cancer : Can I survive with it?

Untreated Mouth Cancer

Mouth cancer interchangeably used with oral cancer is the most common cancer of the neck. The course of the disease is poorly characterized and people are unaware of its growth. The survival rate of people with mouth cancer is poor as they are unaware of growing cancer until it reaches the final stages. Moreover, the survival rate of people with cancer also depends on specific factors like the stage of cancer when it was detected, location of cancer and the age of the person. The survival rate of people with untreated cancer is 30% (approx.) and for a period of five years, whereas the survival rate gets reduced to 12% for people with untreated Stage 4 mouth cancer.

Let’s have a quick glance at the Stages of Mouth Cancer:

Stage 1: The tumor has not spread to the lymph nodes, and the tumor size is less than or equal to 2 cm.

Stage 2: The tumor grows between 2-4 cm but has spread to the lymph nodes

Stage 3:  The tumor spreads to one of the lymph nodes, and the size of the tumor grows larger than 4 cm.

Stage 4: The tumor develops of any larger size (more than 4 cm) and gets spread to the lymph nodes and other surrounding organs,

The lips, two-thirds of the tongue, the inner lining of the cheeks, gums, hard palate, soft palate, pharynx, and sinuses are all places where mouth cancer can occur. Head and neck cancers are a subcategory of this type of cancer.

Few common symptoms of mouth cancer:

  • Lumps or bumps, rough places, eroded areas, swellings, and thickening on gums,
  • Unusual bleeding from the mouth.
  • Earache.
  • Weight loss that is unexplained.
  • Sores on the neck, mouth, or face that do not heal in two weeks or bleed profusely.
  • Voice change, hoarseness, and a severe sore throat.
  • Speaking, moving the tongue or jaw, eating, or swallowing becomes difficult.
  • Velvety red, white, or red and white patches appear inside the mouth.

If you see any of the above symptoms, you should see your dentist or a doctor right once. A thorough assessment and treatment are necessary to treat mouth cancer. The mouth cancer treatment cost in India goes somewhere around 2.5 lac INR to 5 lac INR approx.

Risk Factors For Mouth Cancer

Oral cancer risks are twice as high in men as they are in women. Men over the age of 50 are at the greatest risk of having oral cancer. The following are some of the most common mouth cancer risk factors:

  • People who smoke have a six-times higher chance of getting mouth cancer than those who do not. As a result, the most common causes of mouth cancer are cigarettes or cigars.
  • Alcoholics are more likely to acquire oral cancer than those who don’t drink.
  • Chewing tobacco, snuff are more likely to develop mouth cancers such as cheek cancer, gum cancer, and cancer of the lips’ lining.
  • Human Papillomavirus (HPV) strains are risk factors for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

What Are The Treatment Options For Mouth Cancer?

Oral cancer treatment depends on the location, stage, and kind of cancer.

  • Surgery: If the oral cancer is still in its early stages, doctors may recommend surgery to remove the tumor and prevent it from spreading to other regions of the body.
  • Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy kills cancer cells by administering medications orally or through an intravenous (IV) line.
  • Radiation Therapy: It is a type of treatment that uses radiation beams that are targeted on the tumor once or twice a day. At later stages of cancer, a combination of radiation treatment and chemotherapy are used.
  • Targeted Treatment: Drugs are used in this therapy to attach to cancer cells’ particular proteins and stop them from growing.

Posted by, magneto
February 22, 2022
28th
Jan 2022

Survival Rate Of Tongue Cancer In Diagnosed Cases

Bone marrow Treatment in Indi

Tongue cancer is one of the most common head and neck malignancies. The major risk factors associated are smoking, drinking alcohol, and, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.

In cases of mouth cancer, among conventional treatments, surgery is the recommended treatment in many cases. This may be combined with radiation and chemotherapy.

In designing an effective treatment regimen, the main highlights are improving care for patients with this condition and predicting prognosis before the treatment plan’s implementation.

 

Incidence of Tongue Cancer

Data reported in the literature refers that there is an alarming increasing incidence of both oral and base tongue squamous cell carcinoma/tongue cancer. The prevalence of tongue cancer is presented with female gender predilection without the traditional risk factors of alcohol or tobacco use and in association with HPV infection.

 

Is Tongue Cancer life-threatening?

Yes, it is a disaster to be diagnosed with cancer, and it is a frightening experience. But as it is often mentioned that cancer, if can’t be cured, can be treated with a good prognosis and is referred to as a good outcome with an increased disease-free survival DFS rate.

 

Survival Rate Of Tongue Cancer

The survival rate for the patients diagnosed with cancer is calculated from the time of diagnosis, while the oncologists use statistics to help determine treatment options and to predict the prognosis. The survival rate is also dependent on other factors, such as the type of cancer, a person’s age, and the time period.

The percentage of people who are alive at a certain time after a diagnosis is mostly referred to in the range of five-year periods. DFS to relate survival rates to cancer patients is the amount of time period.

Lived by the patient without recurrence of disease after the treatment is completed, and it does not include deaths from other factors.

The management of tongue cancer in its advanced diagnosed stages is primarily surgical, in combination with radiation. And only radiation is opted for the cases with advanced disease, being poor surgical candidates, unresectable.

The average cost for mouth cancer treatment in India is Rs. 2,35,000 and above, for more details, you can contact the experts in our team of cancer rounds.

This indicates that unless there is a clear contraindication for surgery or the tumor is unresectable, surgery can be offered as primary treatment. And to be specific in lieu of early-stage tongue cancer (T1 or T2) single-modality therapy, namely surgery or radiation has been successful and the survival rate is about 60%.

But for the cases with advanced disease (T3 or T4) -those that have a poor response to single-modality treatment show poor prognosis with decreased survival rate. For tongue cancer or mouth cancer with the best treatment provided timely after the early diagnosis of the disease, a survival rate of about 80% is observed.

This means that around 80 out of 100 (around 80%) patients will survive their cancer for a year or more after diagnosis. And 60 out of 100 cases (60%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis. But around 50 out of 100 cases (around 50%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more after diagnosis.

The five-year relative survival rate of tongue cancer also depends on the stage of cancer. If cancer has spread far, the five-year relative survival rate of tongue cancer is 63 percent.

As these survival rates show, earlier diagnosis leads to better outcomes- the role of self-screening is really important. Early diagnosis of tongue cancer allows for effective treatment options, with fewer side effects, and a good five-year survival rate with increased DFS.

It is also important not to forget that tongue cancer can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated early. Over time, it may spread to other sites in the mouth, other areas of the head and neck, or other parts of the body.

Within parts of the tongue divided anatomically- the back third of the tongue, which starts in the throat, – known as the base of the tongue is associated with decreased survival rate, poor prognosis, and more chances of recurrence.

Posted by, Medical Team, Cancer Rounds
January 28, 2022

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