The Brazilian Association of Head and Neck Cancer (ACBG Brasil) holds, this July, the 7th National Campaign for the Prevention of Head and Neck Cancer. In April last year, Law 14,328 made the period official as National Month to Combat this type of disease. The campaign intends to make the population aware of the importance of self-care and early diagnosis, in order to avoid the growing number of deaths and severe mutilations that compromise vital functions of patients, such as speech, breathing, food, vision, hearing and cognition. ACBG Brasil’s legal advisor, Ana Paula Guedes Werlang, told Agência Brasil that the campaign draws the population’s attention to this cancer, which is little talked about and, therefore, does not allow people to understand the importance of identifying and early diagnosis”. The theme chosen for the 2023 campaign is “Your body, your rules”. According to Ana Paula, the choice was based on the fact that “every development is a result of our choice. And, as it is an 80% curable cancer, an early diagnosis means that, if we make the right choices, we will certainly not be part of the death statistic”. ACBG Brasil will mobilize a network of volunteers so that this year’s campaign will be present in all states of the country, with prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation actions, in which patients, health professionals, authorities and members of civil society will participate. . Through social networks (instagram @acbgbrasil and facebook @acbgbrasil), it will be possible to follow the initiatives and support the campaign, as well as through the association’s website. Volunteer Vitor Gomes operated on a tumor in the larynx in 2007, at the National Cancer Institute (Inca), an agency of the Ministry of Health. “It’s been 16 years after laryngectomy. I still continue to be a patient of Inca, ”he said. He was retired for ten years and returned to work this year, in a company that provides services to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). Vitor works as a volunteer at ACBG Brasil and coordinates the Reception Group for Laryngectomized Patients in Rio de Janeiro, also known as the Reception Group for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer (GAL RJ). “I’m super well, rehabilitated, comfortable, thank God”, he assured. Vitor Gomes recalled that the objective of the Green July campaign is to call the attention of people who think hoarseness for more than 15 days is normal. “It is not. It is worrying, and the person has to look for a specialist”. The same goes for a sore throat that is persistent. “It is also a classic symptom (of cancer). It’s already a sign for you to worry. The same thing is when you have difficulty swallowing”. Gomes reiterated that self-care “is health, it’s surviving, it’s knowing how to live healthy. An early diagnosis avoids a thousand damages to health and suffering”. Growing number Inca estimates for the three-year period 2023/2025 the emergence of around 40,000 new cases of head and neck cancer per year in the country. The head of the Inca Head and Neck Service, oncological surgeon Fernando Dias, noted that these data have to be considered understated, because the National Cancer Registry is unable to list all cases treated in the public and private health network. This also occurs because, in the North and Northeast regions and in some areas of the South, there are gaps in this communication. Therefore, he stated that the forecasts published by Inca are more a reflection of the reality in the Southeast Region and not of Brazil as a whole. “We always have to consider these understated numbers. It is much more than that, most likely.” According to the doctor, as most Brazilians do not have access to information, the Green July aims to disseminate forms of prevention, signs and symptoms that lead to suspicion of these tumors, which will allow an early diagnosis. Dias pointed out that in the late 1970s, for the vast majority of oral cancer diagnoses, 70% of patients referred to Inca already had advanced symptoms of the disease. “At the beginning of the new century, several works that were carried out, including surveys with data from these Inca records, by the Oncocentro Foundation of São Paulo, showed that this reality has not changed”. According to the expert, there is a lot of lack of information, including among general practitioners who work in general outpatient clinics. “Because, in the middle of the 21st century, patients with oral cancer, which you don’t have the slightest difficulty in identifying, continue to arrive, for the most part, in an advanced state”. He said that treating a patient in the early stages of the disease makes all the difference. “The chances of control and cure are much greater, the consequences of treatment are much smaller”. Signs The flagship of the specialty at Inca is the treatment of tumors in the area called the upper aerodigestive tract, which involves the mouth, pharynx (or throat) and the larynx, where the vocal cords are located. “Any mouth or throat sore that lasts longer than 15 days has to be seen by someone who will assess and ultimately biopsy.” Regarding the larynx, the most frequent sign is hoarseness. Any type of change in the vocal cords will change the patient’s voice pattern. At a later time, if the cancer is more advanced, the patient will start to feel short of breath or, if the lesion also affects the pharynx, he may have difficulty swallowing, that is, pain when swallowing and difficulty swallowing. “These things all get attention.” Another common site for tumors is exposed skin: the skin of the face and scalp, especially if the patient is bald. Bearing in mind that Brazil is a country close to the tropics, where the population lives exposed to solar radiation and many people walk without protection, any type of wound or nodule on the skin that did not exist has to be seen by a specialist, in this case a dermatologist. As for the thyroid tumor, a gland located in the anterior part of the neck, Fernando Dias pointed out that in recent years an important exam has been included in the check-up to evaluate alterations in this organ, which is the ultrasound. In addition to being a low-cost exam, ultrasound can be performed in any patient situation. This examination led to the understanding that nodular thyroid disease, which is the main manifestation of thyroid cancer, was more frequent than previously thought. Ultrasound allows nodules to be diagnosed even before they are clinically identifiable. The nodule of this type of cancer grows very slowly between the ages of 20 and 55 and does not interfere with the function of the gland. The signs that can raise the suspicion of a thyroid nodule are that it presents disproportionate growth in a relatively short period or a nodule that metastasizes to the lymph nodes of the neck, and the patient realizes that he also has lumps in this region. Risk factors In all types of head and neck cancer, the indicated solution is surgery, mainly, said Fernando Dias. The head of the Inca Head and Neck Service said that the great emphasis that should be given to the Green July campaign is the fight against risk factors for cancer in these regions, which are smoking and alcoholism (alcohol consumption), associated to poor oral hygiene, or poor conservation of teeth, and poor diet. Dias commented that good nutrition should favor the consumption of white meat, especially fish, the so-called lean meat, in addition to fruits and vegetables. “This is a diet that will contain certain vitamins and certain substances that play a protective role in the mucosa as a whole”.
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©