Head and Neck Oncology Treatment Options

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Adjusted solutions for each patient with head and neck cancer

A diagnosis of cancer of the head and neck is overwhelming. You might be worried about your speech and ability to swallow or hear. We know that patients want to know how a diagnosis of cancer will affect them today, tomorrow, and how it will affect their day-to-day life. Hackensack Meridian Health is here to treat a broad range of cancers from the mouth, throat, tongue, thyroid and sinuses. Our Head and Neck Oncology team brings together experts for ear/nose/throat surgery, maxillofacial surgery, dentistry, plastic and reconstructive surgery together with medical oncology, radiation, imaging, research and nursing to deliver individualized care for each of our patients.

For our head and neck patients, we focus not only on the best possible treatment options, but on the overall quality of life for the patient with the least amount of impact on their bodies.

Complete and comprehensive care

Hackensack Meridian Health provides the most complete and comprehensive advanced personalized treatment options. Among all subspecialties in oncology, head and neck is a perfect example of the importance of a multidisciplinary and individualized approach with proven benefit for patients.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy  works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, which grow and divide quickly.
Depending on your type of cancer and how advanced it is, chemotherapy can:

• Cure cancer – when chemotherapy destroys cancer cells and they will not grow back.
• Control cancer – when chemotherapy keeps cancer from spreading, slows its growth, or destroys cancer cells that have spread to other parts of your body.
• Ease symptoms – when chemotherapy shrinks tumors that are causing pain or discomfort.

Sometimes, chemotherapy is used as the only cancer treatment. But more often, chemotherapy is combined with surgery or radiation therapy.

When used alongside surgery or radiation therapy, chemotherapy can:

• Make a tumor smaller before surgery or radiation therapy
• Destroy cancer cells that may remain after surgery or radiation therapy
• Improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy and biological therapy
• Destroy cancer cells that reoccur or spread to other parts of your body (metastatic cancer)

Surgery

Minimally Invasive Surgery
Minimally invasive surgeries reduces the size of the incision and results in less pain and scarring, faster recovery, and reduced incidence of post-surgical complication.

Radiation Oncology

Our radiation oncology team includes an ensemble of distinguished radiation oncologists who have trained at the most highly respected and well-known cancer centers in the world. Because of this, patients in New Jersey can feel confident that they will receive the best treatments available without the stress of traveling long distances to major metropolitan areas.

Advanced Technology

• Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography (4DCT)
• High Dose Radiation Therapy (HDR)
• State-of-the-art Linear Accelerators withIntensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
• Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)
• Unparalleled Experience with CyberKnife®