Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking about head and neck cancer. And you can find written notes on this topic at zero definals.com

slash head and neck cancer or in the ear, nose and throat section of the zero definals surgery book. So let's get straight

into it. Head and neck cancer can affect a variety of locations. They're usually squamous cell

carcinomas, which arise from the squamous cells of the mucosa.

Let's talk about the locations.

The potential areas affected by head and neck cancer are the nasal cavity, the paranasal

sinuses, the mouth, saliva glands, pharynx, which is the throat, and the larynx, which includes the epiglottis, superglotus, vocal cords,

glottis and the subglotus. Head and neck cancers usually spread to the lymph nodes first.

Sometimes patients present with an enlarged abnormal lymph node in the neck,

referred to as lymphadenopathy.

And then when a biopsy is performed, squamous cell carcinoma cells can be found,

but the original tumour cannot be found.

And this is referred to as cancer of unknown primary.

Let's talk about the risk factors for head and neck cancer.

And these include smoking, chewing tobacco, chewing betel quid, which is a habit in Southeast Asia.

Betel is spelled B-E-T-E-L.

Alcohol is also a risk factor, the human papillomavirus or HPV, particularly strain 16,

and the Epstein-B-B-V-B-V.

Human papillomavirus or HPV also causes cervical cancer.

There is a HPV vaccine called Gardasil, which protects against strain 6, 11, 16 and 18.

Presenting symptoms and signs that may indicate head and neck cancer are a lump in the mouth or on the lip,

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