Unique Symptom of HPV Caused Oral Cancers Identified

The initial symptoms of throat or mouth cancer may be unique to whether or not the condition was caused by the Human papillomavirus (HPV), according to a new study.

Throat or mouth cancer, also known as oropharyngeal cancer, is often caused by heavy smoking or chewing tobacco. It has also been known to be caused by a chronic infection of certain strains of HPV.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Ontoloaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, the difference in how oropharyngeal cancer begins may influence how it is first diagnosed.

Dr. Terry Day, senior researcher for the study and a specialist in head and neck cancers at the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston told Health Day that although tobacco use among adults younger than 55 has been slowly decreasing in the U.S., the number of annual throat and mouth cancer diagnoses has still been rising

This rise has been associated with an increased rate of HPV-linked cases of the cancer. The reasons for this still don't remain to be clear, but some experts theorize that changes in oral sex practices in the U.S. could be a driving factor.

According to Day, regardless of the reasons, a rise in HPV-caused oral cancer made the fact that little was known about the specific type of cancer's initial symptoms.

To address this problem day and his team analyzed the records of 88 patients diagnosed with oral cancers and determined if those patients had tested positive for HPV.

The researchers found that for HPV-positive patients, the most common first symptom was an unusual lump in the neck, which appeared in more than 50% of the HPV positive patients, versus only 18 percent of the HPV-negative patients. Interestingly, trouble swallowing, and sore throat; initial symptoms common among oral cancers not caused by HPV were barely apparent in HPV-positive patients.

According to the researchers, while these findings are interesting, a much larger study will need to be conducted to confirm the results more conclusively.

The study was published in JAMA Ontoloaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery on March 20.