Head and neck cancers account for approximately six percent of all cancers in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 40,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed this year with cancers of the head and neck. Of those cases 7,500 will be fatal.

Don Gardner was one of the lucky ones. It was January of 2003 when he first noticed something unusual in the back of his throat. He was 64 years old and had stopped smoking in 1982, but feared this could be a long-term effect of tobacco use. He made an appointment to see Dr. Perry Santos, who specializes in oral, head and neck cancers at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center.

Biopsies confirmed the worse. Gardner had 19 lymph nodes surgically removed, three of which were found to be malignant. “When I heard I had cancer I wondered ‘why is this happening to me?’ I think that’s a pretty common reaction,” says Gardner. “But once I was resigned to it, which was right then in that same meeting, I just wanted to know how soon we could start treatment.”

Gardner underwent 40 radiation rounds and eight chemotherapy sessions with great success. He has been cancer free for more than five years. He says if he hadn’t gone to the doctor when he did, he wouldn’t have been alive to see the birth of two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Gardner has made it his mission in life to counsel others facing head and neck cancers. He is living proof that they can survive.

“If we can pick up a cancer early on, the survival rates are fantastic, but unfortunately sometimes people will come in for different reasons, very late in the process of developing their head and neck cancer,” Dr. Santos explains. “Then it becomes much more diffi cult. The treatment gets much more difficult. The survival rate is lower; it’s just more challenging all the way around.”

Tobacco (including smokeless tobacco, sometimes called “chewing tobacco” or “snuff ”) and alcohol use are the most important risk factors for head and neck cancers. Eighty-five percent of head and neck cancers are linked to tobacco use.

One in four, or about 650,000, Oklahoma adults are current smokers. Oklahoma has one of the highest percentages of smokingrelated deaths in the nation. Tobacco use causes the premature death of about 5,800 Oklahomans each year, or an average of 16 each day, more than from any other cause.

People who use both tobacco and alcohol are at greater risk for developing these cancers than people who use either tobacco or alcohol alone. People who are at risk for head and neck cancers should talk with their doctor about ways they can reduce their risk. They should also discuss how often to have checkups.

Symptoms of several head and neck cancers include a lump or sore that does not heal, a sore throat that does not go away, difficulty swallowing and a change or hoarseness in the voice. Head and neck cancers are usually discovered by primary care physicians or dentists.

The treatment plan for an individual patient depends on a number of factors, including the exact location of the tumor, the stage of the cancer and the person’s age and general health. The patient and the doctor should consider treatment options carefully. They should discuss each type of treatment and how it might change the way the patient looks, talks, eats or breathes. Like with all cancers, early detection results in better outcomes and higher cure rates.

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