Head and Neck Cancers Treatment at Jefferson
A history of heavy smoking and alcohol use may make you at a higher
risk for developing head and neck cancer. Symptoms can include pain, a growing neck mass, shortness of breath, weight loss,
a hoarse voice, difficulty swallowing, ear pain and/or difficulty
opening the mouth.
If you have been diagnosed with a type of head and neck cancer, a multidisciplinary team of head and neck surgeons, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists at Jefferson combine experience and technology to offer you optimal care.
Cancers may arise from many locations within the head and neck regions, including:
- Larynx (voice box)
- Lips
- Mouth
- Nasal cavity
- Salivary glands
- Sinuses
- Skin
- Throat
- Tongue
- Tonsils
To treat cancer of the tongue, tonsils, voice box or throat, Jefferson is one of the few hospitals in the Delaware Valley to offer a new surgical procedure, transoral robotic surgery (TORS), utilizing the da Vinci® Surgical System. Our highly skilled head and neck surgeons have performed this procedure many times with good outcomes.
At Jefferson, we have some of the premier oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the Delaware Valley. Our surgeons will explain what to expect before, during and after your procedure.
Our radiation oncologists are continually improving patient outcomes by providing carefully coordinated and sequenced radiation therapies. Radiation therapies help a significant number of our patients realize cures, while it successfully slows the progress of cancers for many others.
Medical oncologists at Jefferson often utilize chemotherapy, which uses systemic treatment in the form of intravenous injections of anticancer drugs or, less commonly, oral medications to kill cancer cells.