What to Know About Tonsil Cancer
6/9/2008 Houston, TX staff CancerWise (www.cancerwise.org) Whether people have had their tonsils removed or not, they still might develop tonsil cancer and should be educated about the disease. Answering questions about tonsil cancer is Ann Gillenwater, M. D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Head and Neck Surgery and director of the cancer center's Oral Cancer Prevention Clinic. What are tonsils? The tonsils are a collection of lymph tissue, or white blood cells, at the back of your mouth that gather there to help fight infection. What raises the risk of tonsil cancer? Traditionally, the known risk factors for tonsil cancer are tobacco and alcohol use, but now there seems to be an increased rate of tonsil cancer in patients who don't smoke or drink. There is some evidence that it's related to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Can you have tonsil cancer and no tonsils? Even if you have had your tonsils removed (tonsillectomy), you can still get tonsil cancer because during the procedure, some tonsil tissue is left behind. What are the symptoms of tonsil cancer? The number one symptom is asymmetrical tonsils, having one tonsil larger than the other. Another symptom is a persistent sore throat. At later stages, there are enlarged lymph nodes or cysts in the neck and maybe ear pain. As a general rule, any time someone is thought to have a tonsil infection and antibiotics don't work, doctors should consider tonsil cancer. Many times tonsil cancer that has metastasized or spread to [...]