Head and Neck Cancer

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Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Head and Neck Cancer
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Treatment

• Nasal cavity
  Primary therapy is surgical resection (removal) of the tumor, although with early lesions surgery and radiation treatment yield approximately equivalent results. Because early stage tumors present a low risk for spreading to the lymph nodes, elective treatment of the regional lymph nodes (in the neck) usually is unnecessary. Most advanced tumors (T3 or T4) are treated with a combination of surgery and postoperative radiation treatment.
• Paranasal sinuses
  Maxillary sinus cancers are treated with surgery and postoperative radiation. Surgical excision may be impractical if the cancer extends to the base of the skull, the nasopharynx or the sphenoid sinus. In such cases radiation alone may be used, although in the long run, its ability to prevent the cancer from spreading is poor. There is some data to suggest that combining chemotherapy (either intra-arterial or intravenous) with radiation may improve local control. The most commonly used chemotherapy agents are Cisplatin (an anti-cancer drug of the type called platinum compounds) and/or 5-FU, although newer agents are being tested.

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