Let's Talk About The Cantonese Cancer

Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) isnt common, but it affects a strikingly high number of Chinese and Bidayuh people.

- Lim Teck Choon

In fact, NPC has been called the Cantonese cancer, since Southern China, especially the Guangdong province and Hong Kong, reports the highest incidences of NPC in the world!

Researchers traced the migration history of people in this province across the world throughout the last few centuries, and unsurprisingly, many Chinese and the Bidayuh people in Malaysia trace their roots back to Southern China. Hence, the threat of NPC is also high among them compared to other races in this country.

This month, Dato’ Paduka Dr Balwant Singh presents an overview of the nature of and the treatment of NPC.

WHAT’S INSIDE THE NOSE?

Dr Balwant explains that when we breathe in, the air travels through our nostrils to the upper part of our throat, behind our nose. As it moves down to the lungs, it passes through our nasal cavity and past the chamber known as the nasopharynx. It is located behind the nose, above the soft part (soft palate) of the mouth. From the nasopharynx, air will head down the throat and to the lungs.

A structure of note is the fossa of Rosenmüller. This is a long, shallow and narrow depression situated immediately behind the eustachian tube orifice. At the base of the fossa is a ball-shaped lymph node called the retropharyngeal lymph node or the node of Rouvier. Almost 50 percent of all reported NPC cases originate from this lymph node.

A CANCER IN THE NASOPHARYNX

Similar to other cancers, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) arises when abnormal cells begin to grow and divide without stopping.

Breakdown of normal cellular processes that control growth, division and death.