People should avoid smoking, chewing betel nut and excessive alcohol consumption, as these habits can cause cancer, Taichung Veterans General Hospital otorhinolaryngologist Wang Chen-chi (王仲祺) said.
Wang cited the case of a 67-year-old patient surnamed Lin (林), who was earlier this year diagnosed with stage-three cancer after seeking treatment for an irritated throat.
Lin’s habits of consuming 600ml of strong alcohol, up to 300 betel nuts and four packs of cigarettes every day for most of his life caused the condition, which went unnoticed until it was too late, Wang said.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
In another case, a 55-year-old woman surnamed Lu (盧) was last year diagnosed with stage-three cancer after smoking, chewing betel nuts and drinking for most of her life, Wang said.
Lu started smoking when she was 10 and began drinking with her colleagues after work almost daily since entering the workforce, Wang said, adding that her cancer was treated, but she lost 15kg within three months and afterward found even breathing to be painful.
Both patients have had their tumors removed and are slowly recovering, and both have vowed to quit their habits, Wang said.
Waiting too long to quit habits could be life-threatening, Wang said, citing a patient surnamed Lu (呂) whose cancer was not discovered until it reached the fourth stage.
The man, who was diagnosed two years ago, had a 4cm tumor removed at the time, but has still not fully recovered, Wang said.
The 63-year-old had consumed betel nut and excessive amounts of strong alcohol for 35 years, Wang said, adding that while he is still undergoing treatment, he is now able to breathe and swallow properly, and can speak again.
Before oral cancer surgery can be performed, the size of the tumor must be determined and a surgeon must decide whether to employ traditional scalpel surgery or laser surgery through the mouth, Wang said, adding that not all patients are fortunate enough to retain their larynx.
People who develop ulcers or hard lumps in their throats that do not go away after a month should seek medical assistance, he said.
Throat cancer is the No. 4 cause of death worldwide, and there are about 6,000 new cases annually in Taiwan, he added.
The rate of throat cancer is on the rise in Taiwan, hospital surgeon Hsu Chung-ping (徐中平) said, adding that last year it was the ninth-highest cause of death in the nation, killing 1,797 people.
Throat cancer is particularly problematic, as it is hard to detect early and is normally only discovered after tumors grow, Hsu said, adding that the survival rate is only 20 percent for those who discover the cancer five years after its onset.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not