Pharmacists could help drinkers and smokers detect cancer
Cordelia Molloy/Science Photo Library
Alcohol facilitates the absorption of carcinogens from tobacco |
Pharmacists are being asked to refer patients who seek remedies for mouth and throat symptoms if they are also heavy smokers and alcohol users. Hoarseness, sore throat, mouth lesions, leukoplakia and lumps on the tongue or lips could be the early symptoms of head and neck cancers, said Peter Rhys Evans, a head and neck cancer specialist at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London.
Speaking at a briefing organised by Merck KGaA (manufacturer of Erbitux)
held in Amsterdam last week, Dr Rhys Evans said that most patients who
develop head and neck cancers come from the lowest socio-economic groups.
Men in these groups tend to visit GPs rarely. If pharmacists advise them
to see their GPs they could be screened for head and neck cancers, which
are 95 per cent curable with radiotherapy and laser surgery in Stages
I and II. Once the cancer is advanced or has spread prognosis is poor.
Head and neck cancers are rising at an alarming rate in the UK, Dr Rhys
Evans said. In men the numbers have more than doubled over the past decade
and there has been a steep increase among women over 30 years.
“Whereas the ratio of head and neck cancers between men and women
used to be 8:1 now its only 2.5:1.” Falling rates of smoking among
men but increasing tobacco use among women could see rates soon becoming
equal.
“The rise is mainly driven by increasing rates of smoking and alcohol
use among women and more recently the influence of binge drinking by
both sexes,” he claimed. “While alcohol per se is not cancer-forming,
it acts as a solvent facilitating the absorption of carcinogens from
tobacco into the tissues of the mouth. The more alcohol is consumed alongside
tobacco use, the greater the risk.” |
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