Nasopharynx (Nose) Cancer - Diagnosis & Treatment

How is nasopharynx (nose) cancer treated?

There are different treatment options available for nose cancer. An ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist will evaluate your condition and suggest the appropriate treatment for you, depending on your cancer stage and overall general health.

The treatment plan may include:

Chemotherapy

This uses one or a combination of drugs that circulate in the bloodstream to kill rapidly growing cells. Chemotherapy helps to reduce the symptoms of nose cancer.

Neck dissection surgery

This performed after resection of the primary tumour to remove surrounding cancerous lymph nodes if the nose cancer has spread to them.

Radiation therapy

This is the most common form of treatment for nose cancer. This treatment can be given in several ways:

• Brachytherapy uses thin metal rods containing radioactive materials to deliver radiation to cancer cells.
• Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) allows the accurate, computer-guided delivery of radiation beams to destroy cancer cells, while sparing surrounding healthy tissues.
• Radiotherapy or external energy beams can be used to destroy cancer cells and reduce the symptoms of nose cancer.
• Proton beam therapy uses high-powered energy particles known as protons instead of X-rays to directly deliver radiation to treat cancerous and some non-cancerous tumours.

Surgery

Surgery removes nasopharyngeal tumours for nose cancer cases that do not respond to radiation therapy.