Detect cancer early

EARLY detection of head and neck cancers can significantly improve the chances of a cure, but a lack of knowledge about the disease causes more than half of patients diagnosed late to die from it.

To help combat the lack of awareness, UKZN, in collaboration with Yale University and pharmaceutical company Merck, last week engaged with the medical fraternity in KwaZulu-Natal.

A team of academics and doctors went to several medical sites and trained medical staff, including dentists, dietitians, and nurses, on warning signs and risk factors for head and neck cancers. “Eighty percent of these cancers are caused by things that are preventable,” said Dr Yougan Saman, head of UKZN’s Ear Nose and Throat department.

Dr Andile Sibiya, an ENT consultant at Ngwelezane Hospital described the training process: “We had instructional teaching sessions, but also hands-on sessions where we showed them how to screen (patients) and what to look for.”

Benjamin Judson, assistant professor of head and neck cancer at Yale, said:

“Identifying a cancer early makes the biggest difference in how that person’s going to do, is even more important than any treatment we can offer.

Those who drink and smoke excessively were seven times more likely to get head and neck cancers.

Doctors warned that younger South Africans who smoked hookah pipes, were also at risk.

Warning signs were persistent sores or lesions in the mouth or nose, feelings of numbness or tingling sensations in the face and swelling.

Battling to swallow was another sign.

“People tend to ignore it, say it’s minor and hope it will go away,” Dr Sibiya said.

On our Facebook @TheMercurySA see a video clip of Head of Department for Ear, Nose and Throat at UKZN, Dr Yougan Saman, explaining head and neck cancers.