Cancer of the throat (pharynx) or voice box is referred to as throat cancer.
Your throat is the muscular tube that connects your nose to your neck. Most throat cancers begin in the flat cells lining the inside of your throat.
Throat cancer can also affect your voice box, which is positioned immediately below your throat. When you speak, your vocal cords vibrate to produce sound, and your voice box is made of cartilage.
Genetic abnormalities in the cells of your throat create throat cancer. These mutations result in unrestrained cell growth as well as the survival of cells that would usually perish. The accumulating cells in your neck can grow into a tumour.
The mutation that causes throat cancer has yet to be identified. Doctors have learned, however, that some features may increase your risk. To lower your chances of being a victim, avoid these four things.
1. Excessive smoking
Cigarette smoke not only kills smokers, but it also takes away their ability to speak. There is a plethora of scientific evidence linking smoking to cancers of the mouth, throat, lungs, and oesophagus. Subjects who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day are twice as likely to develop laryngeal cancer. When tobacco smoking is paired with alcohol drinking, the risk increases much more; these two chemicals work in a synergistic manner.
2. Excessive consumption of alcohol
Long-term alcohol intake has been associated to a variety of malignancies, including mouth and throat cancers. There’s also a link between bowel and breast cancer and alcohol consumption. It’s difficult to ignore the warning signs when there’s such a strong link between alcohol use and cancer. To reduce your risk of acquiring cancer linked to alcohol consumption, researchers and health professionals recommend restricting oneself to two drinks each day.
3. Eating unhealthy foods
Hypopharyngeal cancer risk may be increased by poor nutrition. Colorectal, respiratory tract (lips, mouth, tongue, nose, throat, vocal cords, and part of the oesophagus and windpipe), and stomach cancers were shown to be more common in people who ate the most junk food. Men had an increased risk of lung cancer, whereas women had a higher risk of liver and breast cancer after menopause.
4. Exposure to harmful chemicals
Wood dust, paint fumes, and some chemicals used in the metalworking, petroleum, construction, and textile sectors can all raise the risk of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal malignancies.
Asbestos is a mineral fibre that was once widely utilised as an insulator in a variety of applications. Asbestos exposure is a significant cause of lung cancer and mesothelioma (cancer that starts in the lining of the chest or abdomen). Although several research have established a link between asbestos exposure and laryngeal cancer, not all of them have come to the same conclusion.