Understanding Head and Neck Cancer

From the desk of Beth Battaglino, RN, CEO, HealthyWomen

Head and neck most cancers is a catch-all phrase that involves cancers of the lips, mouth, voice box, throat and salivary glands. When caught early, these cancers have a very superior prognosis, with 5-calendar year survival charges of 70% to 90% with cure. However, most situations usually are not identified until eventually they’ve reached a afterwards stage, creating remedy considerably much less efficient.

You might question, if procedure works so properly for early-phase head and neck most cancers, why are not much more people identified in advance of their cancer advances?

HealthyWomen’s new instruction plan explores what is actually stopping people from finding care faster. We know racial and socioeconomic disparities can be a barrier. We also know that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in folks skipping preventive care and program screenings. What’s far more, head and neck cancer brought on by HPV may well carry stigmas that make men and women much less probably to deliver up indicators with their health care vendors.

And, for the reason that head and neck cancer incorporates numerous varieties of cancer, signs or symptoms of these cancers are many and diverse. Some of the most common kinds, these kinds of as a serious sore throat or hoarse voice, can be mistaken for a sign of anything else, like a chilly.

As Lisa Reed advised HealthyWomen, “I understood there was anything additional to the lump I felt in my throat. But it even now took 2 1/2 months in 2007 and quite a few visits to an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT) to convince her to seem harder and deeper at my symptoms. Finally, the ENT did an endoscopy and located a finger-like advancement in the again of my throat. Immediately after a biopsy the subsequent early morning, I read the dreaded information: It was cancer.”

When acquiring a head and neck most cancers analysis is frustrating, what you or a loved one does next is critical. Dr. Eleni Rettig, a head and neck surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Healthcare facility and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Healthcare Faculty, shares the concerns you should inquire your health care service provider. We also assist you comprehend your hazard variables and the various varieties of head and neck cancers — and we offer you information on indicators, early screenings and treatment method possibilities.

For Susan Decker McLaughlin, it started off with a swollen lymph node, a small pain-free bump on the left facet underneath her jawbone and back molars. Following receiving her diagnosis, she spelled out, “I was fearful and shocked: I might never listened to of salivary cancer prior to, and there was no recognised bring about.”

Susan included, “This journey has taught me that I can not be fearful to communicate up when a thing would not sense correct. Health professionals may well know much more about health care problems, but they will not know your overall body improved than you do. If you are not emotion perfectly, rely on your self — and then fight as challenging as you can to get the care you have earned.”

My finest hope is that you choose this essential advice, and like Susan, grow to be your individual greatest advocate.

In superior wellbeing,
Beth Battaglino

This useful resource was established with assistance from Merck.