Thoughts.com

In the United States alone, it is estimated that 3% of adults with malignancies are diagnosed with Stage 4 Throat Cancer. Based on national statistics, the bulk of the cases are usually men and they have twice the likelihood of dying from it than women. Worst still, people who are diagnosed are already on the advanced stages. But the most common culprit to this disease is something that almost everyone does and neglect, smoking.

Throat cancer or oropharnygeal carcinoma is basically the rapid growth of cells in the throat. It has 4 distinct stages and severity increases as the patient advances. Many medical experts point their fingers at smoking as the main cause of throat cancer. Other causes would include cultural practices like the chewing of tobacco, familial disposition, and exposure to certain sexually transmissible infections, work-related hazards and even gastric reflux.

Stage 4 Throat Cancer Survival Rate primarily depends on the general condition of the patient, the aggressiveness of the treatment and to a certain degree the will power of the patient. According to most case studies, there is a 30% chance that the patient with stage 4 throat cancer can survive this type of anomaly while a massive 90% survival rate is suggested to those patients who are in the early stages. As mentioned earlier, with proper and early treatment, good support systems and maintaining good health can greatly increase the chance of surviving the disease.

 



However, a stage 4 throat cancer prognosis is affected by how good it was staged. Staging is very important because it will serve as a guide to treatment and also show how far the cancer has gone. Diagnostics procedures like needle biopsies, pathology reports and advanced imaging modalities like the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are valuable tools in determining the stage of the cancer. Proper staging is important because this will greatly help the medical team in properly treating the patient. Sadly, there were reported cases in which the cancer returned and this can greatly lower the chances of survival to less than 5 years regardless of treatments used. Additionally, total remission can only be declared if the patient went through that 5 years without any other complications.

As mentioned earlier, this type of cancer is very preventable. The primary thing to do is a big lifestyle change. Other important measures are good exercise regimen and maintaining a good diet plan. But most importantly is having regular visits with your doctors even if you don’t have any bad symptoms because early detection vastly increases the recovery rate.

Stage 4 throat cancer has gripped quite a lot of people even the legendary Michael Douglas had it. But with early detection, proper treatment and with the will power to make it through, you can win over this deadly disease.