Screenings can significantly improve survival rate
Chances are breast and lung cancer is on your radar, but what about head and neck cancer?
These types of cancer are called “orphan diseases,” meaning they haven’t received much publicity through vibrant national efforts.
Head and neck cancer accounts for about 5 percent of all new cancers. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head & Neck Surgery, more than 55,000 Americans will develop head and neck cancer this year, and nearly 13,000 of them will die from it. Many of these cases are preventable. Like with any disease, knowing the signs, symptoms and lifestyle risk factors is imperative.
Persistent sore throat and a neck mass are important symptoms people should note and yet are often ignored as many people are unaware that they require attention. Other symptoms include a persistent lesion or ulcer in the oral cavity, difficulty swallowing and hoarseness.
Unfortunately, the majority of head and neck cancer patients already have an advanced stage of the disease by the time they seek help. Recurrence and survival is significantly worse when the cancer is not caught early.
The Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery Department at LSU Health Shreveport has been involved with free screenings since 1996. In fact, as a leader in organizing these events, I have been asked to write about our experience in the Academy’s Bulletin and as an editorial in the ENT Journal.
Many patients screened have never heard of many of the risk factors for head and neck cancer, so together with education, voluntary screenings play a large role in our overall goal of improving outcomes for the Shreveport-Bossier City area. We have been able to identify patients that need further work up and have inspired others to get screened more regularly. Even if nothing is found, consciousness is raised, and people screened will be more likely to follow up with their doctors or come back the next year.
From past screenings, we have also learned there are gaps in education and understanding. For instance, although our community is well aware of smoking risks and cancer, they are not as familiar with the association between chewing tobacco and head and neck cancer.
A 2014 study by members of the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, where I serve as a board member and the director of research, showed that smoking and chewing or spitting tobacco were used by 54.5 percent and 32.7 percent, respectively, of respondents at risk for mouth and throat cancer. Alcohol combined with any sort of tobacco use is an especially deadly combination.
One trend we have been seeing lately has to do with the human papillomavirus, which is a sexually transmitted disease that can infect the tonsils and the back of the throat. Performing oral sex and having many oral sex partners can increase your chances of oral HPV infection, possibly leading to oral cancer. The increase in oral cancers due to HPV changes the face of who is developing oral cancer. It is not just men over 60 who have smoked; younger people in their 40s have been more at risk in the past decade than ever before. More research is happening in this area for us to gain a better understanding of how people get HPV orally.
Many patients screened have never heard of head and neck cancer, but we are actively trying to change that. Talk to your doctor about your risk factors for these types of cancer or participate in the free screenings.
They involve a simple, painless physical examination of the head and neck area. It takes less than 10 minutes, and it could save your life.
Dr. Cherie-Ann Nathan is professor and chairman of the department of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at LSU Health Shreveport. She is a surgeon-scientist with a busy practice in addition to leading an active clinical and basic science research team. Nathan serves on many national committees including the NCI Task Force and Steering Committee, board of directors for the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, Program Advisory Committee for the Academy of Otolaryngology/HNS and multiple committees in the AHNS.
