Smoking and throat cancer

Smoking can damage your throat and voice box, and even cause throat cancer. Learn more about the effects of smoking on your throat.

People who smoke can die from cancer of the throat or voice box

Smoking causes throat cancer. This includes cancer of the pharynx (back of the throat) or the larynx (voice box). If you smoke cigarettes, you have a much higher risk of getting throat and voice box cancer compared to non-smokers.

People who have throat cancer have only a 55% chance of being alive 5 years after being diagnosed. Those with voice box cancer have a 65% chance of surviving for 5 years.

If you smoke other types of tobacco products you also have a high risk of throat and voice box cancer. People who smoke pipes have over 10 times the risk of voice box cancer than non-smokers.

Living with throat or voice box cancer is tough

Getting cancer of the throat or voice box cancer would be a very tough thing to go through.

People who get throat cancer often need an operation to remove part of their throat. They may need to have their voice box removed or breathe from a hole in their throat. If you have your voice box removed, this makes it difficult to speak without mechanical assistance. Some people with throat cancer may also need a feeding tube going into the stomach to allow them to eat.

People with throat or voice box cancers often need radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The side effects can make life very difficult. It can also damage their sense of smell or taste.

Cigarette smoke carries toxic chemicals into your throat

Cigarette smoke exposes your body to over 7,000 chemicals. At least 70 of the chemicals in tobacco smoke are known to cause cancer. These include: 

  • formaldehyde
  • benzene
  • polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

As you inhale, smoke hits your throat and voice box. Chemicals from the smoke go inside the cells of your throat. Some of them change into more toxic forms inside your cells. PAHs are one group of toxic chemicals in smoke that form when tobacco is burned. Toxic PAHs damage DNA and cause cancer.

Toxic free radicals are also found in cigarette smoke. Scientific experiments have shown that the damage caused by free radicals can be found in the voice boxes of people who smoke. Scientists believe that PAH chemicals and free radicals in smoke are causing cancer of the voice box.

Learn more about toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke.

Toxic chemicals from smoke cause cancer in your throat

Toxic chemicals from smoke move into the cells in your throat. They stick to the DNA inside your cells, where DNA contains the blueprint to produce more cells. Chemicals from smoke damage your DNA, forming mutations in your genes. These mutations are the triggers that start the cancer growing.

When your cells are damaged by these toxic chemicals, they start growing out of control. They divide quickly, making many copies of themselves. These new cells pile together to form a tumour.

Cancer cells can move out of your throat into different parts of your body. They then start new tumours in different organs. These are called metastatic tumours. Once your cancer spreads, it’s much harder for you to survive.

High-quality scientific studies have shown that smoking causes throat and voice box cancer. An Australian study has shown that people who smoke have 11 times the risk of getting voice box cancer than non-smokers. A large study that spanned 40 years showed that people who smoke had an almost 7 times higher risk than non-smokers of getting throat cancer.

Quitting smoking reduces your risk of throat and voice box cancer

You can reduce your risk of throat and voice box cancers by quitting smoking. If you quit smoking for 10 years, you can halve your risk of throat and voice box cancer. Quitting for 20 years reduces your risk by even more at 80%.

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