Spreading Awareness About HPV-Related Cancer
- Frank Lane, a 60-year-old dad from England, is using his HPV-related throat cancer journey to encourage other men to be aware that the human papillomavirus can increase cancer risk. He was diagnosed with throat cancer after experiencing fatigue and swelling on the side of his neck.
- The human papillomavirus, or HPV, is a group of more than 200 related viruses, some of which are spread through vaginal, anal, or oral sex, according to the National Cancer Institute. It can cause a handful of cancers, including cervical and throat cancers.
- “The strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer are the same strains of HPV that cause throat cancer,” Dr. Jessica Geiger, a medical oncologist at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet. “There average patient with HPV-related throat cancer tends to be males in their 40s or 50s, who were never a smoker or just a very light tobacco user.”
- The HPV vaccine, Gardasil, can help prevent both oral cancers as well as cervical cancer in women.
- There’s no annual screening for throat cancer like there is for other more common cancers. Instead, doctors usually find throat cancers when a patient comes in with symptoms that may point to it. Some symptoms include: cough, changes in your voice, difficulty swallowing, ear pain, a sore throat, or a lump that doesn’t heal, as in Aldrich’s case. Don’t delay seeing a doctor if something seems amiss and your symptoms are not going away.
Lane, a dad of two, told Kennedy News & Media in a recent interview, as per the Daily Star, that his medical team estimated him to have gotten the virus about 40 years ago.
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“[When the doctor said] you’ve got throat cancer from oral sex it was a surprise. Some of the guys I’ve told at work laughed, not because I had cancer but because of how it came about. They said I was talking a load of rubbish, I told them to Google it and I saw the color drain from their faces. The consultant said because of the shape of the virus inside my biopsy they ascertain it’s from about 40 years ago.”
He continued, “I was sexually active around the age of 20. I was having fun, but I wasn’t messing about with loads of different girls. When I got told, I was thinking ‘f–k that, I’m never doing it again.”
“To be honest it could be Kylie Minogue or Demi Moore and if they were like ‘hey Frank come on’ I’d be like ‘nah, you’re alright.'”
Expert Resources on HPV-Related Cancers
- Get the Facts: What Do We Know About HPV-Linked Throat Cancer?
- A Major New Effort Announced to Vaccinate Young Boys Against HPV and Cancers Linked to Sex
- HPV Is Responsible For 5% Of Cancers In The World: An Advocate’s Crucial Message
- Don’t be Swayed by Myths: The HPV Vaccine is Completely Safe
- Get the Facts: HPV Can Cause Cancer in Men Too
- Majority of Throat Cancer Diagnoses Are Caused by HPV – Here’s What You Need to Know
- More than 70% of Americans Don’t Know that HPV Can Cause Anal, Oral, and Penile Cancers — Even With Famous Advocates Such as Michael Douglas and Marcia Cross
Looking back on how he noticed swelling while shaving, Lane explained, “I was having a shave, felt my neck and thought ‘that feels a bit hard’. It was just a slight swelling. When the doctor looked in my mouth she could actually see it sticking out of the top of my tonsils, it was the size of a boiled egg.
“I was very tired but I just thought it was down to work and not getting enough sleep. I was also waking up to go to the toilet three or four times a night, but I put that down to getting older. My partner said to give it a fortnight as it might be my glands – [caused by] the stress of going to the gym.”
Lane, who finished up his cancer treatment approximately 16 months ago is now hoping his experience with inspire others to get checked.
He told Kennedy News & Media, “I’ve been telling a lot of people – colleagues at work, people I chat to and meet at the gym and they’re like ‘oh my God, you’re kidding me?'”
Lane concluded, “My advice would be don’t have oral sex. [Jokingly] For anyone who can’t follow that, my advice would be if you have any unusual symptoms don’t ignore them.
“Get it checked out.”
Understanding Throat Cancer
Throat cancer is a type of head and neck cancer where cancerous cells begin in the throat, voice box or tonsils. Some of the main risk factors for this disease include smoking, drinking alcohol, a diet lacking in fruits or vegetables, acid reflux disease and the human papillomavirus (HPV).
So, one way to decrease the chances of developing the disease is to get the HPV vaccine.
The American Cancer Society recommends that boys and girls get the HPV vaccine between ages 9 and 12. The organization also stresses that teens and young adults through age 26 who are not already vaccinated should get the HPV vaccine as soon as possible.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, “About 85% of people will get an HPV infection in their lifetime. Vaccinating all 11–12-year-olds can protect them long before they are ever exposed. CDC recommends two doses of HPV vaccine for all adolescents at age 11 or 12 years.”
Dr. Jessica Geiger, a medical oncologist at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, explains the link between throat cancer and HPV in a previous interview with SurvivorNet.
“There are no screening guidelines to screen for throat cancer, unlike cervical cancer with pap smears. And there are no standard tests to determine if you harbor the (HPV) virus,” Dr. Geiger said.
“However, there is no concern that you’re going to spread this cancer to your partner or to anyone else, because at this point your partner has already been exposed to the virus and likely cleared it.”
RELATED: Get the Facts: HPV Can Cause Cancer In Men Too
There’s no yearly screening for throat cancer, so doctors often discover the disease when a patient sees them with symptoms that may point to it. Some symptoms include:
- A cough
- Changes in your voice
- Difficulty swallowing
- Ear pain
- A lump or sore that doesn’t heal
- A sore throat
- Weight loss
It’s important to note, however, that these symptoms are not exclusive to throat cancer. Still, you should always see a doctor if you have any changes to your health.
Understanding the Connection Between Head & Neck Cancers and HPV
It’s much more common to know someone who has a head or neck cancer now-a-days than it was several decades ago. And that’s because of its strong connection to HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.
“From the 1980s to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300 percent,” Dr. Ted Teknos, a head and neck cancer specialist, and president and scientific director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio, told SurvivorNet during a previous interview.
“That is entirely due to the HPV infection, in the throats of patients who have been exposed to HPV. So there is no myth … HPV causes throat cancer and it’s a sexually transmitted disease. And it’s something that is an epidemic in the United States.”
Why the HPV Vaccine is so Important in Preventing Cancer
Meanwhile, Dr. Allen Ho, a head and neck surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, says the vast majority of humans in the United States — both men and women — will eventually get infected with HPV.
Dr. Ho explained, “The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to be more cancer-inducing.
“Probably less than 1 percent of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that somehow their immune system fails to clear, and over 15 to 20 years it develops from a viral infection into a tumor, and a cancer.”
Understanding HPV and Cancer Risk
It’s unclear whether HPV alone is enough to trigger the changes in your cells that lead to throat or mouth cancer, or whether this happens in combination with other risk factors like smoking. Of course, some people who develop throat or mouth cancers have no known risk factors for the condition. Genetics can play a role in this cancer, too.
The HPV Vaccine
Throat and oral cancers are unique in that they’re usually preventable with the HPV vaccine. And that’s why those eligible should get vaccinated against HPV, SurvivorNet experts say.
The vaccine is typically given to children before they are sexually active, as HPV is transmitted through sexual contact.
And contrary to some detrimental misinformation circulated online, the HPV vaccine is entirely safe.
There are virtually no side effects with this vaccine, Dr. Jonathan Berek, director of the Women’s Cancer Center at Stanford Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
It is “incredibly safe,” he insisted. “It’s as safe as any vaccine has ever been. It’s highly-effective. It’s highly-predictive.”
Dr. Berek continued, “Some people say they’re concerned about it because they’re — they’ve called it a sex vaccine, that somehow it’s gonna encourage people to be sexually active. First of all, that’s not true. It’s, it’s an anti-cancer vaccine. And second of all, there are no data to support that contention.
RELATED: Should Children as Young as 9-Years-Old Get The HPV Vaccine?
“There are absolutely none. So it’s really based on fear, misinformation, disinformation … it’s not based on science or data. The science is very clear. It’s a highly-effective, safe vaccine, and should be promoted. And in those countries now where it has been promoted, we’re starting to see substantial reductions in the precancerous and early cancers of the cervix.”
HPV is responsible for 34,800 cases of cancer in the U.S. each year, but 90% of them can be prevented thanks to the HPV vaccine Gardasil.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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