Recurrence of Head And Neck Cancer

0 Views

07/06/23

Surgical Oncologist Dr Suneel Kaushik discusses the recurrence of Head And Neck Cancer.
Any type of cancer can recur after treatment. This depends on several factors like the stage at diagnosis, the quality of the treatment received, and how well the patient has responded to the treatment. The risk that an individual patient has to develop recurrence depends upon multiple factors, but the most important are :
- The sight
- The stage of cancer diagnosis and treatment
- The response of the patient to the treatment
- The quality of surgery undergone by the patient

If a patient is likely to develop a risk of recurrence, he/she may develop recurrence within a maximum of 5 - 2 years post-treatment. Hence, it is advised for patients to be on regular follow-up every three months for the first two years to ensure the recurrence is detected early and timely treatment is done.

What can patients expect during the follow-ups?
During these follow-ups, a focused clinical examination is performed and patients are advised necessary screening tests to identify suspicious lesions and evaluate further by a biopsy or FNAC.

Head and Neck cancer patients normally face a problem swallowing, speaking, and in the case of laryngeal cancer, they face problems in voice production due to the mutilating surgeries and radiotherapy-induced side effects. Rehabilitation forms a crucial component in the treatment which starts from the starting of the treatment.