Q&A: Oral, Head & Neck Cancer

Approximately 110,000 new cases of oral, head and neck cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States, with men being affected about twice as often as women. These cancers can develop in the nasal cavity, sinuses, lips, mouth, thyroid glands, salivary glands, throat, or voice box.
In recognition of Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, April 8-15, 2018, the Baptist Health news team sat down with Geoffrey Young, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, chief of head and neck surgery at Miami Cancer Institute, to get the facts you need to know about these cancers.

[Transcript]
[What is Oral, Head & Neck Cancer?]
[Geoffrey Young, M.D., Ph.D, FACS Chief of Head & Neck Surgery]

Dr. Young: Oral, Head and Neck Cancer is actually the fifth most common
cancer worldwide. It involves tumors of the upper aerodigestive tract which is
the throat, the mouth, the nasal passages and the voice box itself.

[What are the common symptoms?]

Dr. Young: A lot of times symptoms of the disease can be silent and there
are no symptoms but there sometimes can be concerning symptoms. Any changes in your voice, any difficulty swallowing any coughing up of blood, pain in the jaw, in the ears in the mouth or in the throat that persists for more than two weeks should really be evaluated.

[What kind of screening is available?]

Dr. Young: Most screenings are done by dentists at six month or twelve month intervals for oral cancer. And any primary care doctor, ear nose and throat doctor, head and neck surgeon
is capable of doing an exam or screening if symptoms do develop.

[What causes these cancers?]

Dr. Young: Some head and neck cancers are caused by tobacco use and alcohol consumption. Modifying those, making lifestyle changes there can help prevent certain forms of head neck cancers. We have seen recently a very strong increase in the amount of head and neck cancers
related to the human papillomavirus. This is a virus in almost every American has been exposed to
as far as preventing it there are vaccines that have been developed that will hopefully prevent
these cancers in the future.

[Do these cancers recur often?]

Dr. Young: You can have recurrences of this cancer you can also have second primary cancers. A lot of patients who develop of of first head and neck cancer may develop a second head and neck
cancer even years away from their first one. We follow patients very closely after their diagnosis
to make sure that the cancers don't come back and to make sure that they don't develop new cancers.

[How are oral, head and neck cancers treated?]

Dr. Young: Head and neck cancers can be very complicated often requiring not
just one form of treatment such as surgery but maybe surgery
and radiation or even chemotherapy, so it's very
important that you have sub-specialists
in all of those fields that are dedicated to treating head and neck cancer patients
and a multi disciplinary fashion and that's exactly what we have at Miami Cancer Institute

[Image of Miami Cancer Institute building]
[Miami Cancer Institute logo www.miamicancerinstitute.com]

[end of transcript]

• Category

  Head and Neck Cancer