Prevention

Many Head and Neck Cancers can be prevented by avoiding harmful activities such as smoking and chewing tobacco use, as well as excessive alcohol intake.  Sun protection and avoidance of excess radiation exposure and treatment of esophageal reflux disease can also be helpful.  Many patients have no obvious causes associated with any of the above activities when they present to our clinic. Children can develop head and neck cancer and they usually have no history of the aforementioned risk factors. Therefore genetics and other environmental factors including diet may play a significant role. The institute is currently involved in research looking at these factors and in particular genetics.