Nose and sinus cancer means that a malignant tumor has initiated its growth in your nasal or sinus cavities. Your nasal cavity is the space under the upper bridge of your nose. While your sinus cavities are spaces in the lower portion of the forehead, between the eyes and under the upper cheeks. And maxillary (cheeks) sinus is the most common site of sinus cancer.
Under healthy conditions, your nasal and sinus cavities are filled with air. But when you have a cold, upper respiratory infection or infection caused sinusitis these airy spaces tend to get clogged with mucus and pus because of your antigen response to invading pathogens. As a result, you’ll likely experience nose and sinus related symptoms.
Initially, sinus cancer and nasal cancer tend to cause very similar symptoms to those experienced by a sinus and nasal infection, such as:
- headache
- congestion
- runny nose
- eye swelling
- sinus pressure
- watery nasal discharge
One of the key differences between an infection and sinus or nasal cancer is infection symptoms will have a marked improvement over the course of a couple of weeks. Whereas with with cancer, your associative symptoms never seem to let up. Yet, your tenacious symptoms can be caused by other sinus and nose related health conditions.
As your sinus or nose cancer grows, some of these additional symptoms may occur:
- fatigue
- neck lump
- teeth loosening
- bulging eye, eyes
- ear pain, pressure
- sense of smell loss
- facial swelling, lump
- frequent nosebleeds
- opening mouth difficulty
- inexplicable weight loss
- facial numbness, tingling
- lingering nose lump, sore
- roof of mouth swelling, lump
- vision changes, blurry vision
- upper teeth pain, numbness
- blood tinged nasal discharge
- persistent forehead, cheek pain
Symptoms of sinus and nose cancer will vary based on the type, location and stage of your cancer.
Because your nasal cavity and sinuses are composed of various types of tissue and cells different forms of cancer can develop. The most common form of nasal cavity and sinus cancer is squamous cell carcinoma. Other cancer types include:
- sarcoma
- lymphoma
- adenocarcinoma
- malignant melanoma
- esthesioneuroblastoma
- undifferentiated carcinoma
Nasal and sinus cancers metastasize to neck lymph nodes in some cases. And sinus cancer may invade adjacent anatomical regions even before symptoms are evident.
HPV is a viral infection that can lead to sinus cancer. It produces a benign sinus tumor, known as inverted papilloma, which sometimes develops into squamous cell carcinoma.
Because initial symptoms are often miss interpreted, nasal and sinus cancer usually advance before it’s found. Treatment of nasal and sinus cancer usually involves some combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.