Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- PART I General concepts in oncology
- Part II Primary tumors
- 17 Lung cancer
- 18 Breast cancer
- 19 Colorectal cancer
- 20 Prostate cancer
- 21 Pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancer
- 22 Anal cancer
- 23 Esophageal and gastric cancer
- 24 Head and neck cancer
- 25 Kidney cancer
- 26 Bladder cancer
- 27 Ovarian cancer
- 28 Gynecologic malignancies: endometrial and cervical carcinoma
- 29 Testicular cancer
- 30 Unknown primary site cancer
- 31 Mesothelioma
- 32 Adult soft tissue sarcoma
- 33 Osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma
- 34 Melanoma
- 35 Primary brain tumors
- 36 Thyroid and adrenal cancer
- 37 HIV-related cancer
- 38 Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- 39 Leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and myeloproliferative disorder
- 40 Multiple myeloma
- Part III Management of specific symptoms and syndromes
- Index
- References
24 - Head and neck cancer
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- PART I General concepts in oncology
- Part II Primary tumors
- 17 Lung cancer
- 18 Breast cancer
- 19 Colorectal cancer
- 20 Prostate cancer
- 21 Pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancer
- 22 Anal cancer
- 23 Esophageal and gastric cancer
- 24 Head and neck cancer
- 25 Kidney cancer
- 26 Bladder cancer
- 27 Ovarian cancer
- 28 Gynecologic malignancies: endometrial and cervical carcinoma
- 29 Testicular cancer
- 30 Unknown primary site cancer
- 31 Mesothelioma
- 32 Adult soft tissue sarcoma
- 33 Osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma
- 34 Melanoma
- 35 Primary brain tumors
- 36 Thyroid and adrenal cancer
- 37 HIV-related cancer
- 38 Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- 39 Leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and myeloproliferative disorder
- 40 Multiple myeloma
- Part III Management of specific symptoms and syndromes
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Head and neck cancers constitute a broad spectrum of disease processes with varying histology, natural history, and treatment outcomes. In this chapter we discuss squamous cell cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx constituting about 80% of head and neck malignancies. The annual incidence of such cancers is approximately 45 000 cases per year in the US. This is the fifth most common cancer in the world today. Median age at presentation is 60 years and two-thirds of patients are men. There is a strong association with alcohol and/or tobacco use, and most patients present with local or regionally advanced disease.
There exists a dose–response relationship between exposure to tobacco and cancers of the head and neck. Smoking is the preferred method of tobacco use in the United States, and is most strongly associated with malignancies of the floor of mouth, oropharynx, and larynx., Other practices, for example chewing tobacco or dipping snuff, tend to be associated with malignancies of the buccal mucosa., Alcohol use is an independent risk factor and there appear to be synergistic carcinogenic effects for persons who both smoke and drink, especially for cancers of the larynx. There is an inverse relationship between the consumption of fruits and vegetables and head and neck squamous cell cancers. Viral exposures have also been implicated in the causation of some uncommon head and neck malignancies. In the Orient, there is a clear etiologic relationship between Epstein–Barr virus and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Handbook of Advanced Cancer Care , pp. 207 - 216Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003