✖Throat Cancer✖: Which parts does it affect?

Throat cancer affects the body differently depending on the part of the throat where the cancer develops. Cancer of the voice box can cause pain in the ears or pain when swallowing. Cancer of the salivary glands cause swelling near the chin and jaw, and also pain, numbness or paralysis of the facial muscles. Cancer in other parts of the throat can cause persistent pain or other symptoms that don't subside after about two weeks.

The pharynx (throat), is a hollow tube about 5 inches long which begins behind the nose and leads to the esophagus (the tube that goes to the stomach) and the trachea (the tube that goes to the lungs). The pharynx has three parts:

Nasopharynx: upper part of the pharynx, behind the nose
Oropharynx: middle part of the pharynx. It includes the soft palate (the back of the mouth), the base of the tongue, and the tonsils.
Hypopharynx: lower part of the pharynx

(Doctor Caruana, 2007)

The larynx, also called the voicebox, is a short passageway formed by cartilage just below the pharynx in the neck. The larynx contains the vocal cords. It also has a small piece of tissue, called the epiglottis, which moves to cover the larynx to prevent food from entering the air passages.

Throat cancer develops in the throat (pharyngeal cancer) or voice box (laryngeal cancer). A throat cancer diagnosis may specifically indicate one of the following cancers:

Glottic cancer: Starts in the vocal cords.
Hypopharyngeal (or laryngopharyngeal) cancer: Starts in the lower part of the throat, just above the esophagus and windpipe.
Nasopharyngeal cancer: Starts in the upper part of the throat, behind the nose.
Oropharyngeal cancer: Starts in the middle part of the throat, behind the mouth.
Subglottic cancer: Starts in the lower part of the voice box, below the vocal cords.
Supraglottic cancer: Starts in the upper part of the voice box and includes cancer of the epiglottis (cartilage that prevents food from entering the windpipe).