Dr Chris discusses CT scans detecting lung cancer
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Cancer is characterised by rogue cells that multiply in an uncontrolled manner, eventually conglomerating into tumours that may continue to invade neighbouring tissue. This ever-growing feature is what makes the condition so difficult to treat, but investigating suspicious symptoms early could make for a successful recovery. Pain in three parts of the face could could be symptomatic of a tumour growing inside the lungs.
Cancer can start in virtually any body cell, due to damage to the genes involved in cell division.
Common characteristics are weight loss, unusual bleeding and persistent fatigue that doesn’t resolve with sleep.
Pain is another key sign of cancer, afflicting between 20 and 50 percent of patients.
According to Science Direct: “An unusual referred facial pain syndrome has been seen in patients with lung carcinoma.
READ MORE: Cancer: The ‘griping’ feeling patients often endure for ‘several years’ before diagnosis
“Many of these patients describe a ‘constant, aching, sometimes sharp pain,’ which may have a paroxysmal component.
“The pain is usually located in the ear and temporal region, and occasionally the jaw.”
In some reports, patients have described “attacks of debilitating facial pain”, presenting as cluster headaches.
This was the case of one patient, whose medical report was detailed in the Journal of Orofacial pain.
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The researchers noted: “Pain can, on rare occasions, be the presenting symptoms of lung cancer.
“The facial pain is almost always unilateral and is most commonly localised to the ear, the jaws and the temporal region.
“The pain is frequently described as severe and aching, and may be continuous or intermittent.”
The authors proposed two mechanisms for the development of facial pain in lung cancer; compression of the vagus nerve, and paraneoplastic syndrome.
The latter describes a group of disorders that occur when cancer-fighting antibodies mistakenly attack normal cells in the nervous system.
Alternatively, a tumour can exert pressure against the vena cava – the vessel leading to the face.
Not only may this result in pain, but it may also cause pronounced swelling.
What’s more, facial pain could be symptomatic of several other types of cancer.
In fact, facial pain occurs in approximately 80 percent of patients with head and neck cancer.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma, which tends to be located in the tongue, may also manifest as severely painful and spontaneous facial pain.
Pain in these settings may result directly from the tumours, or indirectly as a side effect of oncological treatment of the tumour.
In this cancer, experts believe the onset of pain that is exacerbated during oral function could be a key predictor for the transition from oral precancer to cancer.
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