Head and Neck Cancers

Diagnosis usually begins with a physical exam. During the exam, your provider will check your mouth, nasal cavities, throat and neck. They may feel your neck, lips, gums and cheeks for lumps.

Based on your provider’s findings, you’ll likely need tests, which may include:

• An endoscopy: This procedure uses a thin, lighted tube that allows your provider to see inside your nasal cavity, throat or voice box. It’s usually an in-office procedure.
• Imaging tests: X-rays of your head and neck, CT scans, MRIs and PET scans can show tumors inside your body.
• Lab tests: Your provider may do an HPV test to check for the HPV virus as a cause of cancer if they see something concerning.
• A biopsy: A biopsy is the only way to confirm that a tumor is cancerous. Your provider will remove tissue from the tumor, and a pathologist will test it for cancer cells.

Stages of head and neck cancer

Cancer staging for head and neck cancers helps healthcare providers determine how advanced cancer is. Providers use the TNM (tumor, node, metastasis) system to stage head and neck cancers.

This system considers:

• A tumor’s size and location (T)
• Whether cancer has spread to lymph nodes (N).
• Whether cancer has spread to other parts of your body, or metastasized (M).

Using this information, your provider will assign a number ranging from I to IV.

The staging specifics differ depending on the type of head and neck cancer. But generally, lower numbers (I and II) mean that the cancer is in the early stages. Early-stage head and neck cancers have the highest treatment success rates.