Head and Neck Cancer - answers from the experts at Morristown Medical Center

NEW YORK -- The American Cancer Society projects that 63,000 new cases of head and neck cancer will be diagnosed this year, which can occur anywhere in the head and neck area, including the jaw, tongue or tonsil area and, especially in smokers, the larynx, where the vocal cords are. Sexually transmitted HPV (human papillomavirus) can also develop into oral cancer decades after infection. While these cancers used to occur mostly in those aged 60+, recently that has shifted to people in their late 30s, 40s and 50s.

In response, Atlantic Health System's Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ, has developed outreach programs offering free oral, head and neck cancer screenings to its community. After diagnosis, a multidisciplinary team of specialists and allied health care professionals at the hospital's Leonard B. Kahn Head and Neck Cancer Institute provides cancer patients with comprehensive care and individualized treatment to produce the best outcomes.

In this video series, you'll learn more about the causes, signs and symptoms of head and neck cancer, and how it is diagnosed and treated using advanced therapies and clinical drug trials in conjunction with global healing traditions to treat the whole patient - mind, body and spirit.

You'll meet patients like Matt Goerke, who felt an unusual sensation in his throat that turned out to be a tumor on his tonsil, successfully treated with robotic surgery; and Ed Kane, who was diagnosed with tongue cancer but was given a new lease on life after advanced radiation therapy precisely targeted his tumor, sparing healthy tissue in his throat.

The series also explores how integrative medicine, including therapeutic touch and energy therapies, acupuncture and Eastern healing traditions works hand-in-hand with social workers, nutritionists and speech therapists to assist each patient with their individual needs from pre- to post-treatment.

Physicians at Morristown Medical Center agree that treatment is most effective when cancer is caught early. Treatment may include radiation, chemotherapy, and/or surgery, including minimally invasive robotic surgery, as well as clinical drug trials offering physicians and patients an opportunity to be part of developing the next generation of cancer breakthroughs.

Learn more about Atlantic Health System's head & neck cancer surgery >