Head and neck cancer is traditionally thought of as being a disease associated with alcohol and tobacco abuse and deprivation. It was the fourth most common cancer in males in Scotland in 2000 and just over 1,000 cases were diagnosed in 2007. As smoking becomes less prevalent, a fall in the incidence of head and neck cancer could be anticipated; however, increasing evidence of other aetiologica...

Head and neck cancer is becoming a more recognizable pathology to the general population and dentists. The modes of treatment include surgery and/or radiation therapy. Pretreatment dental assessment should be provided for these patients before they undergo radiation therapy. There are occasions, however, whereby head and neck cancer patients are not prepared optimally and, as a result, they suc...

BACKGROUND Because survival differences between surgical and nonsurgical treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC) are hard to detect, increasing focus has been placed on quality of life (QOL) differences after treatment. Utility assessment provides insight into QOL. Evidence suggests that a patient's comfort with numerical concepts ("numeracy") may influence utility measures. We hypothesize tha...

Ruth Bower talks to Francesca Lake, Managing Editor: Ruth is currently researching head and neck cancer chemoradiotherapy regimens utilizing microfluidic technology to maintain and interrogate biopsies. Tissue response is investigated using a variety of whole tissue and cellular analytical techniques with a view toward personalized medicine. She is currently pursuing her PhD within the head and...

BACKGROUND Radiotherapy-induced trismus (RTIT) is a debilitating condition without any proven effective treatment. This study investigates the effectiveness of prophylactic training to prevent RTIT during and up to 12 months after completed RT in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), also investigating the incidence of RTIT. METHODS Sixty-six consecutive patients from two RT clinics in Sw...

Advanced technology in the USA is, in part, responsible for driving improvements in cancer care outcomes but also steep increases in the cost of cancer care delivery [1–3]. Whether or not the US healthcare system delivers highvalue care, which is defined as the quality of health outcomes divided by the cost of achieving those outcomes, is controversial. Despite much emphasis on comparative effe...

The aim of this study was to analyze and describe the epidemiological characteristics and trends of head and neck cancer in North Sardinia, Italy, in the period 1992-2010. Data were obtained from the tumor registry of the province of Sassari which is part of a wider registry web, coordinated, today, by the Italian Association for Tumor Registries. The overall number of head and neck cancer case...

This article is a continuation of the "Do You Know Your Guidelines" series, an initiative of the American Head and Neck Society's Education Committee to increase awareness of current best practices pertaining to head and neck cancer. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for radiotherapy in the treatment for head and neck cancers are reviewed here in a systematic fashion accordin...

Background HNC is the sixth most common type of cancer in Europe, with over 150,000 new cases in 2012. It is usually recognized at an advanced clinical stage, when the survival rate is remarkably lower, compared to patients diagnosed early. Main risk factors, tobacco and alcohol use, are usually present in young people, thus health education in this group is crucial. The aim of our study was to...

The usefulness of dental approaches, such as oral management, has gained recognition among patients treated for head and neck cancer. In particular, oral management plays a very important role before, during, and after treatment in patients undergoing radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of both. However, specialized dentistry knowledge and techniques that are useful for patients underg...