Mad Cow Testicles Vitiligo Familial hypercholesterolemia Gallbladder Liver Eczema Osteoporosis Turner syndrome Heart attack (myocardial infarction) Spina bifida Polycythemia Vera

Chapter 15: Head and Neck Cancer

Source: www.entnet.org
Topic: Head/Neck
Download: Click here!

Sort Desciption: ... of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, One ... Chapter Number 15: Head and Neck Cancer. form sinus squamous cell carcinoma that had already ...

Content Inside:
Diagnosis and man­ agement of head and neck cancer is a large topic. In this chapter we hope to provide you some background informa- tion and a few case studies to help. There are some things you must remember in the primary care setting, where you're most likely to be. First of all, an adult patient with a lump in the neck and no easily explainable reason for it should be considered to have cancer until that can be ruled out. Obviously, this doesn't mean a child with strep throat and bilateral neck adenopa­ thy, but it certainly does include a 60-year-old smoker who notices a lump while shaving. In the past, a physician would often biopsy a lump in a patient's neck and find that the lump was squamous cell carcinoma. The doctor would then take the patient back to the operating room for endoscopy and find that the patient actually had a pyriform sinus squamous cell carcinoma that had already metastasized to the neck. The problem with this scenario is that the patient's chance of survival may have been decreased because the neck was biopsied before defini­ tive treatment of the primary, which, in this case, would have been resection of the tumor and a neck dissection followed by radiation therapy. This patient would need a complete head and neck exam, followed by triple endoscopy, before biopsy of the neck mass. If a needle aspirate is performed on a lump in the neck, it won't decrease the patient's chance of survival. The discovery of a squamous cell carcinoma on fine needle aspiration would tell you that you must look harder to find the pri­ mary.

Other patients who should be referred for laryngeal exam­ ination are those who have been hoarse for more than 2 weeks. The most common cause of hoarseness is an upper respiratory infection (URI) with edema (swelling) of the true vocal cords. This often lasts several weeks, but it rarely lasts 6 weeks. Six weeks of hoarseness in an adult is considered to be cancer of the larynx until proven oth­ erwise. Other causes of hoarseness include inflammation from gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), allergic rhinitis causing postnasal drip, laryngeal papillomatosis, vocal cord nodules, vocal cord polyps, and unilateralvocal cord paralysis. However, patients who have become hoarse for no apparent reason should be referred without the 2-week waiting time. ...

Name (required)

E-mail (required - never shown publicly)

URI (optional)

Your Comment

Verification Code

© 2007-2009 HealthPDF.org | Design by Ganesh Gunasegaran
Privacy Policy

All files and contents mentioned are the property of their respective owners. This page consists of a compilation of public information, commonly available on the internet, at multiple sites, as well as official websites. No information on this page is guaranteed to be correct, and any data contained here may be erroneous.