20 Facts about Head and Neck Cancer

This Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Month, let's shine a light on this often-overlooked cancer. Did you know it affects millions globally? Join us as we delve into 20 key facts about head and neck cancer, empowering you to understand risk factors, prevention methods, and the importance of early detection. This knowledge can be life-saving.

Head and neck cancer refers to cancers that arise in any part of the head, including mouth, tongue, lips, gums, roof of the mouth, throat, voice box as well as those in the nasal cavity, sinuses, salivary glands or thyroid gland.
Men are two times more likely to get detected with head and neck cancers than women.
Most head and neck cancers are diagnosed in advanced stages due to lack of ignorance of symptoms.
Alcohol consumption and use of tobacco are the two most common risk factors involved in the development of head and neck cancers, with cancers forming most often on the parts where the tobacco or alcohol have the most contact – for example, where the cigarette touches the lips or where chewing tobacco is placed inside the mouth.
Most head and neck cancers can be prevented by avoidance of smoking and overconsumption of alcohol, eating a well-balanced diet, maintaining good oral hygiene and practising protected sex.
A red or white patch in the mouth or a long-lasting sore throat can be the first signs of cancer and need to be diagnosed immediately.
People who are exposed to high amounts of dust, glue, formaldehyde, mustard gas and certain heavy metals are at risk of developing head and neck cancers.
Swallowing difficulties, change in voice, and persistent earaches are some of the conditions that need to be considered for a cancer assessment or diagnosis.
A neck mass that does not go away needs to be assessed using a needle biopsy or a CT scan to rule out the possibility of a cancerous growth.
A sinus cancer needs to be considered in a person who has frequent bleeding from the nose, numbness in the cheek, swelling or pain in the facial area.
Bringing up blood over a few days in the saliva or phlegm could also be a sign of cancer.
Exposure to a virus called HPV or human papilloma virus has also been implicated as one of the reasons for the development of head and neck cancer.
Treatment for these cancers will usually depend on many factors like the stage of the cancer, type and location of the growth and the overall health and age of the patient.
Surgery, followed by radiation therapy is the most common treatment procedure followed for head and neck cancers. Chemotherapy also forms an important treatment modality in head and neck cancers. It is given to treat stage 4 cancers upfront. It is also used as an induction therapy in stage 3 head and neck cancers to reduce the size of tumour so that it can be efficiently operated. Many a times, chemotherapy in stage 3 cancers results in complete disappearance of tumour.