The Head and Neck Clinic
Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer
Treatment for head and neck cancer depends on several factors, including the type of cancer, the size and stage, its location, and your overall health.
- Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are the mainstays of treating head and neck cancer
- For many head and neck cancers, combining two or three types of treatments may be most effective. That is why it is important to talk with several cancer specialists about your care, including a surgeon, a radiation oncologist and a medical oncologist
- An important concept in treating head and neck cancer is organ preservation. Rather than relying on major surgery, an organ preservation approach first uses radiation and chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. This allows for a less extensive surgery and may even allow some patients to avoid surgery altogether
After having the Thursday off from any sort of visit, on Friday 16 January 2009 I attended, what I consider, one of the better planned examinations I have ever done.
I needed to be at the Royal Brisbane Hospital by 0730 to start a round of examinations with just about every specialist field you can think of.
About the Clinic
The Head and Neck Clinic is held each Friday. It is conducted by a group of health professionals with different specialties in treating people with
head and neck cancers. These include Ear, Nose & Throat; Plastic & Reconstruction and Maxillo-facial surgeons; Medical and Radiation
Oncologists; Dentists, Speech Pathologist; Dieticians; Welfare Officer and Nurse Specialists. The Multidisciplinary approach allows for best practice in the management of Head and Neck Cancer. After the team has completed your physical examination, they will meet together to discuss your case and decide on the best treatment plan.
After H and I did the obligatory sign-in at Reception and answer the usual questions we were directed to a waiting area before (after about 15 minutes) we were directed to a consulting room, where I was examined (separately) by the team of specialists, each wanting to give Herbert a little pat. This took approximately 1.5 hours. At this time we were able to take a break and have some morning tea. At 11:00am we were required to return to the clinic waiting area, where the nursing staff showed us back to our consulting room. The specialists then spoke with us to discuss my treatment plan.
As a note depending on your treatment plan, you may be required to visit the specialists again in their own area e.g. ENT, Plastics or the Maxillo-facial Department soon after the Head and Neck Clinic
.The ENT Specialist, the Oncology Head and a couple of Oncology Residents meet with H and myself to discuss the various options available.
I have been told by a few people both at this meeting and subsequently that I was a hotly debated case at their round-table meeting. The ENT and Oncology Head both believed that I did not need a Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) tube fitted with others believing even if it isn’t used it is better to have one inserted prior to any treatment as it is a lot more difficult to insert a PEG or nasal feeding tubes once I am malnourished and weakened. Our decision was to have the tube fitted and then have the challenge of not using it.
The rest of the treatment was to involve having surgery in about a week to remove Herbert from my lymph nodes (a radical neck dissection), and extraction of 8 molars and sub molars. This would mean about a week in hospital at St Andrews. The next step would be a couple of weeks after the surgery when I would have the PEG inserted and have a Fluro Bronchoscopy. The final phase would be six or seven weeks radiation therapy and chemotherapy during weeks one, four and seven of treatment.
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