Doctor Tony Wang, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, Columbia University Medical Center
After Treatment, What Can Patients Expect?
Patients who complete treatment for head and neck cancers can develop complications with speech and swallowing. All patients that we see get referred to our speech pathologist and do exercises as well as other treatments to make sure that not only is their cancer in remission but that they maintain their speech and swallowing over the course of their lifetime.
How Likely Is A Recurrence?
The recurrence rates for head and neck cancers depend on how advanced the patient's head and neck cancers present initially. For patients who have early stage larynx cancers, oropharynx cancers, nasopharynx cancers, the recurrence rates are very low with control rates of over 90-95 % five years out. But then we occasionally will see patients who have more advanced cancers, who have cancers that have spread along the nodes and these patients may do a little worse.
How Long Does the Doctor/Patient Relationship Continue?
As a radiation oncologist I see all my patients months and years after they've finished their radiation therapy, just to make sure that not only is their cancer in remission, but also that they have adequate quality of life. Speech and swallowing is very important to us.
