Head and Neck Cancer Treatments

Stuart Wong, MD, medical oncologist, explains that care is individualized for head and neck cancer patients. 

We have a philosophy for caring for our patients. And, if I have to say it's one thing, it would be that we try to individualize the care for our patients — that we listen to them and try to create a treatment plan that is specific for them.

Let me give you an example. I have some patients where their primary motivation is to do everything in their power to have the highest chance for cure. Whereas, I will have some patients where cure is important, but they want to come out of their therapy with the best possible quality of life and to preserve the functions that are important for their everyday life.

An example would be musicians who need to be able to feel their instrument. They need to be able to hear. Some patients are in the middle of the most productive point in their lives, and they need to preserve the functions that allow them to re-enter the workspace and function normally. We can individualize their care for their specific goals, and we pride ourselves on that.

Becky Massey, MD, head and neck surgical oncologist, explains head and neck cancer treatment.

Head and neck cancer treatment includes a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. We try to limit the amount of treatment that patients get, so that we can cure their cancer while limiting the side effects of any of the treatments.

Head and neck cancer surgery is often used in patients who have cancer that is localized to their head and neck area. Head and neck cancer surgery can be done a number of ways. There has been a lot of progress in the last several years in treatments for head and neck cancer via surgery.

Surgery can be done through the mouth or through incisions in the neck. Those incisions can be camouflaged in skin creases, so patients can have a cure of their cancer and often look and function normally.

Stuart Wong, MD, medical oncologist, explains that survival outcomes for head and neck cancer vary.

Survival for head and neck cancer varies. It depends on a number of different issues. The primary issue is the type of cancer that it is and the anatomic location. One scenario that perhaps gives you the best idea of the best outcome for patients are those patients with HPV-associated cancer where their disease is diagnosed very early. For those patients, the overall survival may be 85% at five years, and that's really an outstanding outcome.

For patients with advanced or metastatic head and neck cancer, the survival for these patients has changed dramatically. Part of this is driven by new therapies — primarily immunotherapies. It was unheard of, say five or 10 years ago, for patients to live beyond five years. Now we're seeing, with these new therapies, patients that achieve remission status that is durable and lasts a long time. For some patients, this treatment allows them to continue years and years and years. This may be the exception rather than the rule, but it is a phenomenal change for our patients.

Stuart Wong, MD, medical oncologist, explains head and neck cancer patients have a number of effects from radiation therapy and chemotherapy. 

Because head and neck cancer patients have a number of specific side effects related to the radiation and the chemotherapy that have to do with hearing or swallowing, we have a team of experts that help to treat those problems and prevent them. Probably the key issue is knowing that these problems can exist and identifying them early and trying to prevent them from getting worse.

Stuart Wong, MD, medical oncologist, describes the abundance of new information leading to medicine and treatment changing quite a bit.

Medicine has changed so much over the last few years and the last decade, and treatment is very specialized. It is not possible for an oncologist to know everything. So much new information has occurred, that we need "super specialists."

For instance, we have specialized surgeons, radiation oncologists, neuroradiologists and medical oncologists. These are all the people who make up our multidisciplinary team. On top of that, we have a number of support personnel who deal with medical problems related to supportive care — hearing specialists, speech specialists, rehab specialists and psychology support specialists. These are all of the team members that make up our multidisciplinary team, and it is an important component in giving the patients their best possible outcome.

Michael Stadler, MD, head and neck surgical oncologist, lists the ways head and neck cutaneous melanoma is treated.

The treatment of head and neck cutaneous melanoma follows the same basic principles of melanoma treatment throughout the rest of the body. This includes the primary surgical management of removing the melanoma itself.

Surgery is often followed by additional therapies, such as radiation therapy and systemic therapy. One of the most common systemic therapies that we use is immunotherapy.

Michael Stadler, MD, head and neck surgical oncologist, discusses advances in treating cutaneous melanoma of the head, neck and scalp.

We have had many advances in the treatment of cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck and scalp regions. Surgical principles have remained fairly constant. We have learned more and more about how much skin we have to remove as it relates to the melanoma, as well as some of the reconstructive principles that we utilize today.

Some of the more advanced areas that we have learned about and use today relate to radiation therapy and our ability to treat areas in a more focused manner, as well as systemic therapies and that mainly relates to immunotherapy.