What Is Throat Cancer?

What is throat cancer?
Throat cancer is a general term for any malignant tumors which occurs in the throat. It is estimated that approximately 24,000 people are diagnosed with throat cancer yearly in the United States. Throat cancer is usually distinct from esophageal cancer which is a cancer involving the esophagus, the muscular tube which carries food and runs from the throat down through the chest and into the stomach. To understand "What is throat cancer?" further we will first explain what the "throat" refers to.

What is the throat?
The throat includes the muscular tube, about 5 inches long in total, that starts behind the nasal and oral cavities and continues down to the neck. This area, which is important both for swallowing as well as the passage of air during breathing, is called the pharynx. The pharynx is further broken down into three main parts, depend on which structure they lay behind. For example, the uppermost part of the pharynx, which lies behind the nasal cavities, is called the nasopharynx. The middle portion, lying behind the oral cavity, is the oropharynx. Further down in the neck, the bottom most part of the pharynx, which lies just adjacent to the larynx, is the laryngopharynx or hypopharynx. Throat cancer can occur in any of these portions.

Also often included in the general throat region is the first part of the windpipe, called the larynx. The larynx, also sometimes called the voice box because it is where most vocal sounds are initiated, connects to the pharynx but leads in front of it to the windpipe, or trachea, which lies below it. Throat cancer can also involve this area including the vocal cords in the larynx. Approximately half of throat cancers occur in the pharynx while the other half occur in the larynx.

What is throat cancer? Are there different types?
By far the most common cancer type to affect the throat (including the pharynx and larynx), as well as other parts of the head and neck, is called squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma is a cancer that arises from the flat cells lining these areas. Your entire mouth, throat and esophagus are lined with this type of tissue, called a squamous epithelium or mucosa.

Although the squamous cell pathology is similar, throat cancers can be further classified or separated based on their more specific location. For example, nasopharyngeal cancer would be a cancer that involves the nasopharynx (the upper most portion of the pharynx) specifically. An oropharyngeal cancer would involve the oropharynx, while a hypopharyngeal or laryngopharyngeal cancer would involve the lower part of the pharynx next to the larynx. Furthermore, laryngeal cancers can be subclassified as eithe supraglottic (above the vocal cords, affecting the epiglottis), glottic (involving the vocal cords) and subglottic (in the lower portion of the larynx below the vocal cords). All of these fall under the general term of "throat cancer" but give more specific information about the particular location of a tumor.