Rehabilitation is a crucial part of treatment for head and neck cancer. Duke Cancer Institute patients will receive rehabilitation treatment from specialists who can help them regain as much function as possible.
Surgery for head and neck cancer may cause problems with swallowing, chewing, or speaking. Radiation may cause loss of taste and smell, resulting in nutritional problems. Lymph node removal may result in swelling.
After surgery, radiation, or other treatment, patients may need to be fed via a feeding tube, but the feeding tube is usually temporary.
Rehabilitation may include:
- Education in caring for a stoma (an opening into the windpipe through which the patient breathes after the voice box is removed)
- Physical therapy to aid in talking, swallowing, or moving the neck and shoulders
- Plastic surgery to reconstruct tissues of the mouth or other tissues
- Speech therapy
Learn more about head and neck cancer:
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