You can try and persuade your dad to seek help by trying to assuage his fears. Fearing it is a cancer, he may not want to seek treatment.
You can let him know that most of the time, the hoarseness can be from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) which happens more in elderly, if there are irregular or late meals, intake of too much alcohol and sour, fried, oily or spicy foods.
After a simple flexible scope that goes through the nose down the throat, which really takes only 1 minute, the diagnosis is made in the clinic. I use a baby scope for adults who are worried about discomfort - it is only 2 mm in diameter, thinner than a noodle!
The patients are usually really surprised at how easy and pain free it is, and regret that they have waited for so long. Other common causes are an allergy causing postnasal drip phlegm or sinusitis.
Cancer of the lower throat and voice box is of course, an important cause of hoarseness, and must be excluded quickly, since this has been for more than a month. Cancer of the throat can be treated if it is detected early.
Late symptoms of cancer would be a worsening voice, impaired swallowing, blood in phlegm and breathing difficulty. When cancer has spread, there may be lumps in the neck. Most often again, there is no cancer, but on the voice box, there can be small nodules or polyps.When treated early, no surgery is required for these nodules or polyps.
Kind regards,
Dr Lynne Lim
