Key points of staging cancer:
- After cancer has been diagnosed, tests are done to find out if cancer cells have spread within the larynx or to other parts of the body.
- There are three ways that cancer spreads in the body.
- Cancer may spread from where it began to other parts of the body.
- The following stages are used for cancer:
- Stage 0 (Carcinoma in Situ)
- Stage I
- Stage II
- Stage III
- Stage IV
- After surgery, the stage of the cancer may change and more treatment may be needed.
- Cancer can recur (come back) after it has been treated. Follow up visits are essential and the oncologist would know when that time is, usually a week going into weeks to months to q 3 mths. to q 6 mths. to yearly. Purpose for so many updating visits is to make sure primarily no cancer has come back. Remember the eye can visibly what it can but blood tests are necessary also especially cancer blood tests and more.
Treatments:
It varies from person to person depending on the stage of oral cancer the person has and how advanced the cancer is.
The treatment plan for an individual patient depends on a number of factors, including the exact location of the tumor, the stage of the cancer, and the person’s age and general health.
Treatment for head and neck cancer can include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or a combination of treatments.
People who are diagnosed with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer may be treated differently than people with oropharyngeal cancers that are HPV-negative. Recent research has shown that patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal tumors have a better prognosis and may do just as well on less intense treatment. An ongoing clinical trial is investigating this question.
The patient and the doctor should consider treatment options carefully. They should discuss each type of treatment and how it might change the way the patient looks, talks, eats, or breathes.
Patients with cancers treated in their early stages may have little in the way of post-treatment disfigurement. For those whose cancer is caught at a later stage, the results of surgical removal of the disease may require reconstruction of portions of their oral cavity or facial features. There may be needed adjunctive therapy to assist in speech, chewing of foods, the problems associated with the lack of salivary function, and the fabrication of dental or facial prostheses.
Whether a patient has surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, innovative therapy or mixed you need to remember it depends on the stage of cancer development besides the grade of the cancer. Each case is individual.
Recent advances in head and neck cancer:
The focus is on immunotherapy, targeted agents, and innovative delivery strategies, offering improved disease-free survival and new options for high-risk patients. There are options!