Lawrence Chow / ENT Doctor
Proton Therapy: Ushering in a New Era of Precision Cancer Treatment!
In the long journey of cancer treatment, radiation therapy has always been an indispensable tool. However, traditional radiation techniques like X-ray therapy, while effective at damaging tumor cells, allow radiation energy to penetrate beyond the tumor, harming surrounding healthy tissues and leading to complications and side effects. With continuous advancements in medical technology, proton therapy has emerged as a cutting-edge radiation treatment, offering renewed hope to cancer patients through its exceptional precision and safety.
What is Proton Therapy?
Proton therapy is a type of particle beam therapy. By utilizing the unique physical properties of protons, it precisely calculates the depth and intensity of the proton beam to concentrate radiation energy within the tumor. The proton beam releases its maximum energy at the end of its range, forming a phenomenon known as the “Bragg Peak.” This ensures that radiation energy is delivered to destroy cancer cells and then dissipates immediately, sparing healthy tissues from damage. This approach maximizes protection of normal tissues and reduces the risk of complications and side effects associated with conventional radiation therapy.
Advantages and Limitations of Proton Therapy
The advantages of proton therapy lie not only in its high precision but also in its ability to preserve patients’ quality of life. Compared to traditional radiation therapy, proton therapy carries lower risks of both short- and long-term side effects, allowing patients to maintain their daily routines during and after treatment. Additionally, proton therapy causes less harm to developing tissues, making it particularly suitable for pediatric cancer patients and effectively lowering their risk of secondary cancers later in life. For tumors sensitive to traditional radiation, such as brain tumors and breast cancer, proton therapy has demonstrated enhanced safety and efficacy.
Which Cancers Are Suitable for Proton Therapy?
Proton therapy has broad applicability, covering various cancer types including brain cancer, head and neck cancers, lung cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and more. It offers a safer and more precise radiation treatment option for both adult and pediatric patients. However, proton therapy is not suitable for all cancer cases (e.g., metastasized cancers). Physicians evaluate individual patient conditions to determine its appropriateness and effectiveness. Furthermore, proton therapy can be combined with other treatments—such as surgery, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy—to form integrated treatment plans, further improving outcomes.
Key Value and Future Directions of Proton Therapy
The proton therapy procedure is non-invasive and painless. During treatment, a specialized medical team uses positioning tools and supports to ensure patient stability, guaranteeing precision. Most treatment courses last several weeks, with sessions conducted five times per week, allowing patients to continue their daily lives. Despite its high safety and precision, proton therapy remains relatively costly, and accessibility is still limited globally. However, with ongoing technological advancements and broader adoption, proton therapy is expected to become more accessible and effective in the future.
In our next article, we will specifically explore the benefits of proton therapy for pediatric head and neck cancer patients.
For any ear, nose, or throat concerns, please contact ENT Head and Neck Surgery Centre immediately. Our ENT specialists will provide detailed consultation and treatment (Tel: 3100 0555).
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ENT Head and Neck Surgery Centre
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Why Do Some People Have Nose Congestion at Night?
During the day, you are pleasantly busy with your daily endeavor that you never notice for even a short while that you have nasal congestion. Then at night, before going to bed, you detect the unmistakable stuffiness building up in your nasal passageways.
That is not the whole story, however.
Rationales of Nighttime Congestion
One can conjure many a reason for nasal congestion at night. Common sense would pull you to believe that gravity is one of the players in the team. Another innocuous alibi is taking too much food at dinner and goes to sleep just barely an hour after a feast.
Think of whatever you want, blame all the fairies and witches and goblins that trample your imaginings, but here are a few of the causes of such condition as nose congestion at night.
The Supine Position
Lying down flat on your back alters the scene drastically. Gravity is shared equally on all points of your body, for one thing. Blood flow, for another, is a little more pronounced in the head and nose, inflaming the blood vessels inside the nose and passageways.
The enlargement of these vessels, and with gravity as an accomplice, causes the ever-present mucus in the nose to stay and behave making you feel stuffy for the night.
Compare this with daytime activity when you are upright with no nasal blood vessel inflammation and mucus is free at will to slide down your throat and gets swallowed because of gravity. Hardly do we notice this episode that gets repeated a lot of times before dinner.
Flowback of acids
Not quite an expected guest but acid reflux is one influencer of nose congestion at night. Currently accepted by medical professionals that this condition is a link to chronic sinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and nasal congestion.
This is the ailment wherein stomach acids will flow back up to the esophagus area causing sore throats or throat ulcers or heartburns and even nasal congestion. An enhanced effect will be more felt when lying down.
The nasal passageways are the right next-door neighbor of the throat and the oral orifice.
Dander and Mites
Dust mites and pet dander must be considered as cause to nasal congestion at night according to a faction in the medical profession. This is so because a certain type of people get slight allergies from pet hair and mites.
Treatment
- Clean your bed thoroughly.
- Refrain from eating a couple of hours prior to bed.
- Raise your head.
- A humidifier with a cool mist will help.
- Tobacco is not good at all.
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For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
An Overview of Anosmia due to inability to smell
A strange word for a sense taken for granted by many. The complete loss of smell is called anosmia and it may be temporary or permanent. There is also a condition where loss of smell may only be partial meaning you can smell but not quite called hyposmia.
There may be not much of a complaint for partial inability to smell but a total loss of smell is a matter to be really concerned with since it may put you in a very precarious situation. Making a mountain out of a mound?
You are alone at home having anosmia for a couple of days and the gas tank is leaking in the kitchen. Or, you are so hungry, you’d try anything out of the fridge and the salsa you picked had been sour for a day already.
Sense of Smell
Like the other senses, smelling is triggered by a process. A molecule from a hot soup enters your nose and excites the olfactory nerves that transmits a signal to the brain where the specific smell is identified.
Any disruption in the process may cause one to lose the ability to smell, be it partial or complete and may either be temporary or permanent. The loss of smell, in consequence, affects the sense of taste.
Without smelling, tasting is watered down or limited to a few flavors which, in turn, nips on the quality of your life.
Causes
Several factors cause the disruption of the process of smelling, but the most common ones are allergy, nasal congestion due to colds, or just plain poor air quality; forest fires and smog included. However, the list of causes may be longer than you think:
- medications for Alzheimer’s’ or Parkinson’s diseases, hormone imbalance;
- old age;
- polyps inside the nose;
- head trauma;
- chemical exposure;
- medicines such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, or antidepressants;
- radiation for head or neck cancer.
Symptom
There is just one and palpable sign in the inability to smell and that is the absence of smell. You begin to doubt that you may have anosmia when certain familiar things to you suddenly smell nothing.
Better yet, Pierre Cardin should have an effect on you; if not, then it is on you, indeed.
Treatment
Once you know you do have anosmia, know how it came to be is the next step. Starting from the bottom of the stairs, if anosmia is caused by nasal congestion due to cold or simple allergy, no fuss is needed but decongestants.
Other than the first two causes of anosmia, or you have had the lack of smell for a week or two, a necessary visit to a health care professional must be done. It may be infection or polyp growth.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
What is the Kissing Disease (Mono)?
Kiss me once and I’ll kiss you twice and then there’s mono. Mononucleosis or the kissing disease or simply mono, as it is otherwise known, is an infectious disease. You might have to ease up on your affections but catching a cold is more likely than getting infected with this one.
The Guilty One
Mono is to be taken seriously for it is no slight infection with symptoms that range from mild to severe. The complications that come along with it, however, makes it even more hazardous.
The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the cause for this disease which may lay dormant in your saliva, blood or semen. You can get the virus through kissing, sex and blood or organ donation.
Being dormant, it may become active and once it is active you may get sick or not, but you will certainly be contagious. Many people have the virus but don’t get sick.
Medical Analysis
There are three basic symptoms of the Mononucleosis which do not, by themselves, announce the presence of EBV in your system:
- fever;
- fatigue;
- sore throat.
These symptoms may even point to a separate ailment or disease that is why a visit to a medical professional will state that EBV is a clear and present danger for you. The doctor will check you for:
- puffy spleen;
- engorged liver;
- blood test for antibodies;
- white blood cell test.
Treatment and Home Care
Like all viruses, Mononucleosis can be treated with antibiotics but can also disappear on its own without treatment in a matter of weeks. These, obviously, is a mild case scenario. Nonetheless, it is sensible to:
- rehydrate daily, not just 8 glasses, if possible;
- limit down your household chores to rest more than usual;
- nibble on sore throat candies or ice or gargle to ease that discomfort;
- pop fever medicines.
It is advisable, upon feeling generally better, to ease up at school or at the workplace. Also, for your spleen to fully recuperate, avoid strenuous activities like sports. Proper cleaning of utensils, drinking glasses, the separation of toothbrushes, among other things, must be done.
Emergency Signals
In severe cases, urgent medical attention should be resorted once:
- a sharp and unexpected pain on the left side of your tummy is felt; your spleen may be having some problems;
- you are dehydrated; evidence is only drips of urine;
- you have breathing troubles or trouble in swallowing; call emergency immediately.
The persistence of the disease, like it has been with you for more than three weeks, deserves and audience with the doctor also.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
A Quick Look At Throat Ulcers
It was an intramural of activity you had yesterday with a crowd of people all the time; and it was fun. Now you wake up with a niggling feeling in your throat and you take no notice of it until you get back home, and it is now really bothering you.
You brush it off as sore throat that nothing a pack of lozenges cannot handle. You cannot be more mistaken in presuming it is so when it may even be more than that. Looking at the bright side of things, it may only be bacterial or viral from yesterday’s event.
Throat Ulcers at a glance
This ulcer may not only be anywhere within the oral cavity but also at the surface linings of the esophagus. As such, throat ulcers may not be visible from the mouth and a professional examination would be required. Knowing the cause of the ulcer will ascertain the treatment needed.
Before you head on for a doctor and if you find yourself hard in swallowing food, check for these symptoms:
- fever;
- patches of red or white in your throat;
- mouth sores;
- pain;
- a swelling in your neck;
- hampered jaw movement;
- bad breath;
- pain in the chest.
Treatment
Throat ulcers may occur at your vocal cords or anywhere down your esophagus. Location and determination of the cause is important for a healthcare professional to arrive at a fitting treatment regimen.
Wherever the ulcer may be and whatever the cause was, any of the following treatment may be prescribed by the doctor.
Vocal cord ulcers treatment
- desistance from speaking;
- vocal therapy;
- gastroesophageal reflux treatment (stomach acid flows back up to you esophagus that cause lacerations on your throat);
- pain reliever;
- surgery as last resort.
Esophageal ulcers treatment
- antacids;
- antibiotics or antiviral medications for infection;
- proton pump inhibitor;
- pain reliever such as acetaminophen.
Pointers at home
Before and after consulting a medical professional, it is only prudent to observe means to stave off aggravation of the effects of throat ulcers that may take a week at least to taper and vanish. Your cravings for food and consequently your diet may suffer but it is for a good cause.
- Spicy food and snacks must be avoided;
- Cold or iced drinks to soothe the pain;
- Certain medicines must also be avoided to avert acid reflux;
- Gargle with warm brine solution;
- Take in more water than usual;
- Alcohol can exacerbate the open sore;
- Smoking dries your throat and enlarges the sore.
Throat ulcers may also be caused by chemotherapy treatment and radiation therapy that may disappear when treatment is completed.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
How is a Hoarse Voice Treated?
A celebration of exultation and yelling or a mere exposure to the presence of crowd may lead you to a sudden awakening of hoarseness in your voice. Dry throat and a croaking voice or some hoarseness in your speech greet your day.
In all manifestations, croaky or hoarse voice originates from the larynx and you may have laryngitis of inflamed vocal cords from strenuous karaoke, passionate speeches or just plain infection from someone dear.
How it may have chosen you as a quarry, here is an enumeration of remedies you can take to talk sweetly through the day.
- Take a break. Not a break like a recess at school but you just have to cease from speaking for a while; let the vocal cords have some respite.
- Salinity in a drink. Gargle your inner throat thoroughly with warm water mixed with salt. An application more may be done accordingly.
- Humid as possible. If you have no humidifier, use a blanket and cloak over a small basin of hot water and inhale the steam orally as well.
- Candies for throats. Lozenges are candies you can play in your mouth all day long without having to be reminded that you are an adult.
- Vinegar from apples. Apple Cider Vinegar has antimicrobial ingredients beneficial to washing and cleaning your throat. Add in a dash of honey to make a powerful drink.
- Honey and Chamomile tea. A potent combination of the power of honey and the antioxidants in chamomile for a better immune system.
- Slippery Elm. This is a tree where its bark is ground to powder and made the main component of tea amongst the many it is used for; add in lemon to spike more vitamins.
- A most versatile and dependable root vegetable that can be used as tea or gargle for easing throat problems. Combine with lemon or honey or both and you have more than a medical concoction.
- Essential Oils. These extracts from plants can transform the ambiance of a room and tickle your senses to appeasement. Eucalyptus or peppermint oils are best to smell with a bothersome throat.
- As old as any culture that had evolved, garlic is proven to be a medicine on its own. Mix it diced in hot tea or gargle with water long soaked with garlic will work wonders not only for your throat but also your total well-being.
- Drink as much daily. Eight glasses of water a day but even more when you are at a quandary of an illness; would never hurt much.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
How to Treat Ear Congestion
There is a drumming or ringing, a throb in strange cadence, in your ear. It may not get your slightest consideration, but it does get a bit of your attention, would it not?
Auditory congestion may happen because of some circumstance you are in or may have come into or as some consequence of a prior or concurrent condition. It may even set it off by some accumulation inside the ear itself, wax.
There is some importance to know why you have ear congestion, truthfully, since persistence of this would entail professional intervention. That would make a mountain out of a mere mound which is unnecessary.
HANDLING EAR CONGESTION
If you do get to have that discomfort, here are a few things you can do for relief upon knowing how you got to be where you are.
- Sinus-related condition. The neighboring nose might cause some mumbo jumbo to your ear, and it is time to do something.
- Blow your nose; relieving pressure inside your nose may ease your ears.
- Nasal decongestant; rhinitis relief may lead you to comfort in your ears.
- Irrigate that nose; put saline solution into each of those nostrils, one at a time.
- Feel the steam; humidify the nasal passages and do this not just once.
- Rehydrate; drink up lots of water to replenish and fill up the other organs.
- Buildup of fluids. You swam at the beach or at the pool like you won’t be back there again in your life. What a time that is with your friends, but then you can’t hear them suddenly.
- Tilt your ear towards your shoulder then pull the ear lobes or jump to drip the water out.
- Apply hydrogen peroxide for ears into your ear, or any over-the-counter alcohol-containing ear drops, lie down with ear ground-wise and wait for a few minutes.
- Travel by any means. Car, train or plane; it does not matter which, but the elevation is of concern.
- Open your mouth as elevation progression is ongoing; pressure relief.
- Do the Valsalva maneuver: pinch nose, close mouth, exhale as if in bowel (go to the proper receptacle if something do comes out). Do this twice.
- Wax accumulation. Some have it, some don’t; others come in waxy, some have it dry and flaky; to each his own. Soften the wax with ear drops, olive/mineral oil, or saline solution then scrape it out.
- The girl or boy that sat next to you in the bus with unclear intentions caused these. Pop in antihistamines or anti-allergens will do you good but follow wisely the stated instructions.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
How to Treat Nose Congestion
A condition as old as man himself and a discomfort everyone experiences at one time or another. The young to the aged, from the north to the south, across the seven seas, it smitten those at certain kinds of weather or situation: a stuffy nose.
Nasal congestion or, as the health professionals prefer, rhinitis is nothing serious but can last up to ten days. The word “rhinitis” comes from the Greek word “rhino” for the smelling organ and “itis” that means inflammation.
It can be so stuffy you need to breathe through your mouth, or it can be watery you will be weary of wiping it that you feel your nose has gotten bloated twice its size. It has become uncomfortable you don’t bother if it is a virus, or allergy, or temperature change. You want it out.
Treatment
There may be variations of one or two of the items listed below which actually is a reflection of practice and culture. Be that as it may, relief from stuffy nose may be done by:
- A humidifier is a help. The machine produces mist from water for you to inhale that soothes those irritated nasal tissues and blood vessels nearby that, if present, liquifies mucus.
- Savor the hot shower. Fundamentally, the heat of the steam is of the same effect as the first treatment that dilates and soothes nasal tissues and blood vessels all the same.
- Hydration is imperative. Drink as much as you can with recommendations by professionals to be at least 2 liters a day. Water, without you knowing, actually is essential in the bodily functions of m
- Not just water. Steam from simple water is very much effective but water may alone be questionable. Why do we not put salt into it and make a steamed saline solution to put it higher than simple water.
- Drain that nose. You will need a squirt implement called “neti pot” to flush out mucus and water out. This is an augmentation to the nose blowing that splatters everywhere.
- Compress it warmly. Done in a bag or a wet cloth, warmth will open stuffed up nerves and vessels. By allergy, virus, or temperature change, this is a sure shot if done always.
- Decongest is well. This is an alleviation that will need OTC (over the counter) medications such as nasal sprays and pills. Nasal sprays may come as complicated as they come.
- Medication. Serious medication for this discomfort may happen if you have allergies or viruses and bacteria that exhibit abnormalities; consultation is necessary then.
Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.
For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.
Source:
HK ENT Specialist Ltd.
Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre
For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,
Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,
Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services
http://www.hkentspecialist.hk
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