Head and Neck Cancer Treatment Options
Your treatment plan will depend on several factors, including
the location of the tumor, the stage of the cancer and your age
and general health. Your physician will discuss each type of treatment
and how it might change the way you look, talk, eat or breathe.
Treatment options include one or a combination of the following:
Surgery
The first objective of surgery is to remove the tumor and some of
the healthy tissue around it. This procedure reduces the chance
that cancer cells will be left in the area.
The second objective of surgery is to evaluate the lymph nodes
if your physician team suspects the cancer has spread. Surgery may
be followed by radiation treatment.
Head and neck surgery often changes your ability to chew, swallow
or talk. You may look different after surgery, and your face and
neck may be swollen. The swelling usually goes away within a few
weeks. However, lymph node dissection can slow the flow of lymph,
which may collect in the tissues; this swelling may last for a long
time.
After surgery to remove the larynx, which is called a laryngectomy,
parts of the neck and throat may feel numb because nerves have been
cut. If lymph nodes in the neck were removed, the shoulder and neck
may be weak and stiff.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy, which also is called
radiotherapy, uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiation
therapy affects the cancer cells only in the treated area. Radiation
is delivered by a technique called external beam radiation, which
means X-rays are used to treat the affected area. It also can be
treated using internal radiation therapy, which places radioactive
materials directly into or near the area where the cancer cells
are found. Before you undergo radiation, a radiation oncologist
and physicist plan the precise delivery of the radiation to minimize
radiation to your vital organs and maximize the radiation to the
affected area.
In addition to its desired effect on cancer cells, radiation therapy
often causes unwanted effects. If you receive radiation to the head
and neck, you may experience redness, irritation and sores in the
mouth; a dry mouth or thickened saliva; difficulty in swallowing;
changes in taste; or nausea. Other problems that may occur during
treatment are loss of taste, which may decrease appetite and affect
nutrition, and earaches. You also may notice some swelling or drooping
of the skin under the chin and changes in the texture of the skin.
Your jaw may feel stiff, and you may not be able to open your mouth
as wide as before treatment. More information about radiation therapy
is located inside your patient information packet.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is widely used to treat certain stages of cancer of
the nasopharynx, hypopharynx and salivary glands. Chemotherapy may
be combined with radiation therapy to treat cancer of the nasopharynx.
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. The drugs enter
the bloodstream and travel throughout the body. Drugs used to treat
head and neck cancers are usually given through an IV. Chemotherapy
may be recommended following surgery to kill any cancer cells that
may have spread outside the area of your tumor. Chemotherapy side
effects may include hair loss, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. These
occur because in addition to attacking cancerous cells, chemotherapy
affects healthy cells — especially fast-growing cells in your
digestive tract, hair and bone marrow. Not everyone has side effects;
today there are better ways to control them if you do.
Clinical Trials and Research
In addition to using the most advanced methods of diagnosis and
treatment, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center participates and
initiates a wide range of ongoing clinical
trials and research, examining new approaches to treating head
and neck cancer. Physicians at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center
are among the top researchers in the world and have initiated and
participated in many types of clinical research programs. This includes
new therapies that may not yet be available in other parts of the
region. Our goal is to have new treatment options available for
patients at every stage of head and neck cancer. To learn more about
available clinical trials, talk to your physician.