Surgery for Head and Neck Cancer :

 

Surgery is an important part of the treatment of head and neck cancers and aims to remove the cancer completely. The part of your mouth or throat that the doctor may remove depends on where the tumour is. Very small cancers can often be treated with a simple surgical operation under local or general anaesthetic, or with laser surgery, with no need to stay in hospital overnight.

 

If the cancer is larger, surgery will often involve a hospital stay and an operation under general anaesthetic. Sometimes the amount of surgery may involve more than one part of your head and neck, and may mean that you will have scars on your face or neck. Some people may also need to have reconstructive surgery to the face.

 

 

Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer :

Radiotherapy may be used alone, instead of surgery. It can also be used after an operation, to destroy small areas of cancer that could not be removed by the surgery. It may also be given in combination with chemotherapy, which is known as chemo-radiotherapy.

 

 

Chemotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer :

Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. They work by disrupting the growth of cancer cells. As the drugs circulate in the bloodstream, they can reach the cancer cells all over the body.

 

 

Photodynamic Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer :

PDT uses a combination of laser light of a specific wavelength and a light-sensitive drug to destroy cancer cells.The light-sensitive drug (the photosensitising agent) is injected into a vein. It circulates in the bloodstream and is taken up by cells throughout the body. The drug is taken up more by cancer cells than healthy cells. It is not activated until it is exposed to laser light of a particular wavelength. When a laser is shone on to the cancer, the drug is triggered to interact with oxygen, which then destroys the cancer cells.

There is a delay of four days between injection and the activation of the drug using the laser light. The laser light used in PDT is focused through a fibre-optic tube, and is shone for only a few minutes. The doctor holds the fibre-optic tube very close to the cancer so that the correct amount of light is delivered and the PDT causes the minimum amount of damage to normal, healthy cells.

In early-stage cancer of the head and neck PDT may be used to try to cure the cancer and is usually given as part of research trials. PDT can sometimes be used to shrink an advanced cancer to reduce symptoms, but it cannot cure an advanced cancer.

 

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