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Lip cancer treatment
Lip cancer is an oncology (tumor) that affects the epithelium of the lips. Most often, cancer does not occur on the lip itself, but in the inner oral cavity, affecting the area between the lips, as well as the mucous membrane. Also, this disease can appear in the area of the red border, which outlines the lips.
The uniqueness of this oncological formation lies in the following: it almost never forms metastases to distant organs (it still spreads to nearby ones). Today, tumors of the lower and upper lips are one of the most common cases of cancer diagnosis among patients.
Causes of occurrence
In 90% of cases, lip cancer occurs in men, and the main cause of its occurrence is smoking. Cigarette smoke heats the lips and mucous membranes, saturating them with carcinogens. As a result, this leads to the fact that the cells begin to mutate. In general, according to information from the best Israeli clinics, smoking leads to a third of all cancer cases. At the same time, the notorious environmental pollution is the cause of only 2 percent of tumors.
The vast majority of cases (98%) of oncology in the form of cancer appear on the lower lip. Cancer of the upper lip area (2%) is more common among women. In both cases, the main culprits are:
mucosal injury;
infections (both viral and fungal).
Most often, the diagnosis shows the initial stage of upper and lower lips among elderly patients (about 70 years old), so some call it the disease of old age.
Stages of the disease process
Israeli doctors distinguish 4 stages of lip cancer, depending on which various treatments.
The first or initial stage of lip cancer is characterized by the appearance of a small neoplasm. At stage 1, it expands only along the mucous membrane by a maximum of 1-2 centimeters. This can take up to 2 years. The second stage - the tumor continues to grow further (up to 4 centimeters), while deepening. The third stage - the tumor spreads not only along the inner side of the lips, but also affects nearby tissues. It can affect the cheeks, tongue, throat, and even the chin. The last or 4th stage - metastases spreading to the lymph nodes.
External symptoms
As the disease progresses, the patient may develop the following symptoms:
the appearance of edema;
profuse salivation, difficult to control;
growth of ulcers;
difficulty chewing, as well as swallowing (with damage to the tongue and cheek tissues);
severe sore throat (with damage to the lymph nodes).
If lip cancer is not detected at the first stage and its development starts, the mobility of the jaws and tongue may be lost, as well as difficulty speaking and eating. This is accompanied by severe weight loss and weakening.
Treatment
Cancer of the lower lip responds better to treatment, especially when it is diagnosed at stage 1. The most difficult is considered to be a non-keratinizing tumor of the upper lip, which gives metastases the fastest.
When treating lip cancer in Israel (traditionally it is considered that the prices are the lowest here and qualified specialists) work both with the focus of the disease and with nearby lymph nodes. At the initial stages, they try to do without surgery, resorting to methods such as:
cryotherapy (freezing the affected area with liquid nitrogen);
photodynamic therapy (destruction of mutated tissues with a beam of directed light).
Preliminary diagnostics can be ordered at BK Medical Logistic, which operates in all regional centers of Ukraine. The test data will be redirected to the best Israeli clinics, where qualified Israeli doctors will promptly diagnose.
