Persistent throat pain could be a warning of laryngeal cancer

General practitioners should consider laryngeal cancer when patients report persistent sore throat, especially when they are badociated with other seemingly low-intensity symptoms.

A persistent sore throat, badociated with shortness of breath, swallowing problems or earache is a bigger warning sign of laryngeal cancer than hoarseness alone, new research concludes.

Led by Exeter University, a study of more than 800 patients in whom laryngeal cancer was diagnosed revealed a cancer risk greater than 5%, badociated with one of these other symptoms. This compares to 2.7% risk of hoarseness only.

The research, funded by INDH and published today in BJGP aims to facilitate the early detection of cancer, which is essential to obtain the best survival rates and the best results for patients' health. At present, NICE guidelines recommend looking for persistent hoarseness or unexplained neck size. The new research gives a better overview of the symptom combinations that GPs should be vigilant when they decide who should be the object of a search for cancer.

Professor Willie Hamilton, of the Faculty of Medicine at Exeter University, is one of the authors. He said: "This research is important – when NICE guidelines for cancer research were published, there was no evidence from GP practices – nor to inform general practitioners. hoarseness serious enough to be reported to GPs warranted investigation.In addition, our research has shown the potential severity of certain combinations of symptoms previously considered low risk. "

The research was conducted using patient records for more than 600 general practitioners as part of the UK clinical practice research database.

Each year, more than 1,700 people were diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. Of these, 80% were men. This number has increased by almost a third over the last 20 years, with tobacco and alcohol consumption being strongly linked to the disease.

Dr. Elizabeth Shephard of the Exeter University School of Medicine said: "The cancer survival rate in the UK is still far behind Europe's – even though our research is part of a series of works that lead to significant improvements.There is still some way to go and the results of this study really highlight the need to improve the current recommendations for all head and neck cancers, whether they are incomplete or absent. "

The full text is entitled "Recognizing Laryngeal Cancer in Primary Care: An Extensive Case-control Study Using Electronic Records".

Provided by
University of Exeter