Head & Neck Cancer

Most head and neck cancers begin in the mucosal surfaces in the mouth, nose and throat.  Included are cancers of the oral cavity, salivary glands, paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, and the lymph nodes in the upper part of the neck. Head and neck cancers are highly treatable and the cure rate is good if they are detected early.

The Head and Neck Oncology Program at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute is at the forefront of national efforts to improve the outcome of patients treated for head and neck malignancies.  The program comprises 14 members from nine departments in three colleges.

The focus of the Head and Neck Oncology Program is on the development and support of research and educational activities to improve the detection, prevention, rehabilitation and quality-of-life issues relating to head and neck cancers. In addition, one of the program's goals is to further develop translational, interdisciplinary research and educational programs. The program is one of the largest accruing institutions to local and national head and neck clinical trials.

Some of the Head and Neck Oncology Program's past research accomplishments include:

• Conducted some of the first studies in the United States demonstrating that certain head and neck cancers are responsive to chemotherapy.
• Participated in the leadership group which conducted a national trial demonstrating a dramatic improvement in cure rates using chemotherapy and radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer, the second most common malignancy in the world. This treatment approach is now the standard of care for the disease.
• Developed a new operation and treatment approach for tumors invading the anterior skull base which increases local tumor control and decreases the treatment morbidity.
• Developed a treatment approach for advanced stage resectable mouth and throat cancers which has dramatically improved the local disease control rates and offers hope for improved cure rates.
• Developed numerous new reconstructive surgical approaches for the throat, voice box, and windpipe.
• Used microarray technology to generate a tumor-specific gene expression profile for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, identifying gene-specific causative and prognostic biomarkers for the disease.