Forgotten cancer can hit hardest

By KATHERINE HOBY

It is the forgotten cancer.

Compared with awareness campaigns promoting "the big ones" - lung, prostate, breast and bowel - head and neck cancer is virtually unheard of.

It affects a small number of New Zealanders but can be one of the most debilitating of all the cancers.

Dr Nick McIvor is clinical director at Green Lane Hospital's department of otorhinolaryngology (head, neck and nose surgery).

He said that while head and neck cancers comprised only up to 5 per cent of all cancer malignancies they could be most socially disabling cancers.

"It's not big numbers we're talking about, but these cancers are not like a lung or breast cancer scar that can be hidden under your shirt," he said.

Head and neck cancers can include cancers of the mouth, tongue, throat, voicebox, lymph nodes, nose, sinuses and skin.

Most are smoking-related, some are genetic. And it is not just older people developing the cancers.

The peak incidence of head and neck cancers in New Zealand is in the 50- to 60-year age group, but they can occur at any age. Tongue cancers, for example, are occurring in people aged in their 20s and 30s.

Dr McIvor said head and neck cancer specialists saw a lot of people with advanced malignancies due to misinformation, ignorance or apathy.

"The only people who seem to know about these cancers are those who have been exposed before somehow," he said.

"A lot of people are not aware. We get, 'I didn't know you could get cancer there,' a lot."

Dentists were the first to notice many cancers of the mouth, he said.

Dr McIvor does not want to scare people but wants to raise awareness of the cancers and promote early checking and diagnosis.

"People are frightened, people are busy," he said.

"But most of the cancer lumps will be benign. The earlier you get in the more likely we are to be able to help you and heal you."

Dr McIvor said many people went to the hospital with large lumps on their necks or faces. They ranged from 3cm to the size of a tennis ball.

He urged people to get lumps and other persistent symptoms - hoarseness, ulcers or irritated areas in the mouth - checked early.

Most minor symptoms such as hoarseness or sore throats should not persist longer than two weeks, he said. If they lasted three weeks they should be checked.

"It's almost common sense. If something's not right - don't ignore it."

* For more information on head and neck cancer, or any other form of cancer, call the Cancer Society on 0800-800-426.