Treat the neck lump immediately! 98% are tumors

The Nuclear Medicine Department of the Provincial People's Hospital found through statistics of data from the past year that among the more than 50 people who underwent PET/CT examinations due to "accidental discovery of a neck lump", only one case was an inflammatory lesion, and the others were tumors in different parts of the body. The doctors were shocked by the results.

Mr. Zhang is only in his 40s. He accidentally felt a small lump on the right side of his neck, but didn't feel anything special. About 2 months ago, I found that the small lump had grown to the size of a pecan, accompanied by persistent local pain. The pain was not severe, but I always felt uncomfortable, so I went to the Provincial People's Hospital for examination.

A CT scan was performed, and no obvious abnormalities were found in the nasopharynx and chest; multiple soft tissue density nodules were found on the right side of the neck, which was conventionally considered to be lymphadenopathy. To further find out the cause of the "swollen lymph nodes" in his neck, the doctor recommended that he undergo a PET/CT scan. He didn't take it seriously, but he did it anyway.

The report suggests: The patient has cervical lymph node metastasis caused by nasopharyngeal carcinoma. At the same time, the results of "right cervical lymph node puncture" also showed non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma, which means that the neck mass was metastatic cancer. "When I saw the report, my mind went blank," said Mr. Zhang.

"We often encounter this phenomenon where patients do not pay enough attention to the neck lump, which leads to the development of the tumor. They do not seek medical treatment until it is late in the disease process, and then find that the tumor has already metastasized widely," said Cheng Aiping, director of the Nuclear Medicine Department of the Provincial People's Hospital.

Many people think that since this lump does not hurt or itch, it should not be a big deal, right? Indeed, lumps without symptoms often do not attract people's attention and concern. Only when the lumps are accompanied by pain, redness, swelling, and itching do people think it is time to go to the hospital for a check-up.

In fact, lumps with symptoms should be taken seriously, and "lumps that are painless and itchy" should be treated with more caution, especially painless lumps in the neck. Because painless neck lumps have a higher incidence of tumors; on the contrary, the more symptoms a neck lump has, the more likely it is that it is not a tumor.

Many neck tumors are discovered accidentally and clinically manifest only as a neck lump without other symptoms, especially in the early stages of the tumor. For example, common neck tumors include thyroid cancer and thyroid adenoma, malignant lymphoma occurring in the cervical lymph nodes and various metastatic cancers (such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, laryngeal cancer, and cervical lymph node metastasis of lung cancer), as well as salivary gland tumors, hemangiomas, lymphangiomas, and schwannomas, most of which do not cause symptoms and signs such as pain or skin redness and swelling. Some lumps in the neck with symptoms such as redness, swelling and pain are often specific or non-specific inflammatory tumors such as purulent inflammation and lymphadenopathy. Of course, late manifestations of some tumors cannot be completely ruled out.

Cheng Aiping reminds that if you find a lump in your neck, you should see a doctor as soon as possible so that it can be detected and treated early.