GPs with patients who have a persistent sore throat combined with shortness of breath, trouble swallowing or earache, should consider cancer to be the cause. It is recommended that patients with persistent hoarseness or an unexplained neck lump are investigated for throat or laryngeal cancer. However, Cancer Research UK said patients should not be alarmed.
Cancer Research UK’s Weilin Wu said: “A sore throat on its own wasn’t linked to laryngeal cancer,”
“But importantly, this study also provides the best evidence to date to support the current recommendation to refer older patients with persistent hoarseness.”
The larynx is part of the throat found at the entrance of the windpipe that helps you breathe and speak. In the UK there are around 2,000 new cases of laryngeal cancer each year.
New research was led by the University of Exeter looked at patient records from more than 600 GP practices and studies 806 patients diagnosed with cancer of the larynx.
Lead author Dr Elizabeth Shephard said: “The significance of the study really is that we’ve found that hoarseness is important for laryngeal cancer, but significantly the risk of having laryngeal cancer greatly increases when it’s combined with a recurrent sore throat,”
Laryngeal cancer forms in the tissues of the larynx. The use of tobacco products and drinking too much can affect the risk laryngeal cancer. The condition is more common in people over the age of 60. If you have early diagnosis it increases the rate of a good outcome. The main treatments are radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy. If the cancer is advanced the patient may need to have surgery to remove part or all the larynx but this can lead to not being able to speak and/or breathe in the usual way.
Prof Willie Hamilton said the research is important because it “has shown the potential severity of some symptom combinations previously thought to be low risk.”
“When NICE guidance for cancer investigation was published, there was no evidence from GP practices to guide this – nor to inform GPs,”
People will be at risk of getting the condition if they:
- smoking tobacco
- regularly drinking large amounts of alcohol
- having a family history of head and neck cancer
- having an unhealthy diet
- exposure to certain chemicals and substances, such as asbestos and coal dust
The main symptoms of laryngeal cancer include:
- a change in your voice, such as sounding hoarse
- pain when swallowing or difficulty swallowing
- a lump or swelling in your neck
- a long-lasting cough
- a persistent sore throat or earache
- in severe cases, difficulty breathing
