Head and Neck Cancer Surgery Program

The Yale Head and Neck Cancer Program comprises highly dedicated physicians and surgeons joined by a skilled team of rehabilitation specialists in speech, swallowing and hearing restoration. All physicians are board certified and fellowship trained. As part of Yale Cancer Center, the team offers expert care for tumors of the skull base and other malignancies of the head and neck. A collaborative approach to care offers the most effective of treatment options for diseases affecting the ear, sinuses, larynx, and pharynx, while emphasizing the organ-sparing mission of Yale Cancer Center.

The program consists of a multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals - head and neck surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, physical and speech therapists, nutritionists, advanced practice nurses and social workers, as well as a patient advocate. This team approach gives newly diagnosed patients a carefully determined treatment plan focused on providing the most comprehensive, effective care possible.

Less Invasive Surgeries and Reconstructive Breakthroughs

Radical neck dissections that were the standard of care until the 1980s have been replaced in many cases by less radical surgeries that preserve nerves, arteries, and muscles in the neck. Patients continue to move, speak, breathe and eat normally after surgery. Patients with certain throat cancers, who, a few years ago, would have lost their vocal cords and their voices, can often be treated with a supraglottic laryngectomy, a less invasive surgery that preserves critical structures. Patients who undergo this surgery maintain their ability to speak, although they need to learn new ways to swallow. At Yale, rehabilitative specialists work with patients to help them adjust to and overcome some of these impairments.

One of the most exciting new surgical advances is the use of laser surgery to remove certain throat cancers using an endoscopic probe in the mouth. This technique allows surgeons to remove tumors without an open incision in the neck.

Breakthroughs in reconstructive surgery represent one of the biggest success stories for head and neck cancer patients. Reconstructive surgery has improved dramatically, yielding previously unattainable cosmetic and functional outcomes. Research data indicate that the results of complex surgical procedures like these reconstructions are best accomplished by specialists, such as the team at Yale, who perform them on a regular basis.

Radiation: Wielding New-Age Weapons

A whole new arsenal dedicated to radiation therapy includes external beam radiotherapy machines, such as linear accelerators and betatrons, which produce x-rays and gamma rays of increasingly greater energy. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), when used alone or combined with surgery, has been shown to greatly increase the chance of survival for patients with head and neck cancer. IMRT delivers high doses of radiation directly to cancer cells in a very targeted way, much more precisely than is possible with conventional radiotherapy.

The Head and Neck Cancer Program includes one of the first radiation oncologists in the U.S. to use brachytherapy, which are implants consisting of tiny metallic seeds containing radioactive isotopes. Brachytherapy, combined with external radiation therapy, can be used to cure head and neck cancers that could not be removed surgically without injury to speech and swallowing functions. These new approaches can often preserve the ability to speak and swallow normally, even in patients with advanced disease.

Chemotherapy Update

Patients who receive chemotherapy with radiation have a decreased risk of distant tumor spread. They experience both prolonged disease-free survival and prolonged overall survival. Thus, the integration of chemotherapy with radiation has changed our standard of care while enhancing efforts toward organ preservation.

	Abrahams, James J, MD	Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Director, Medical Studies in Diagnostic Radiology, Director, Neuroradiology Fellowship; Chief, ENT Radiology	(203) 688-8800 Appts (203) 688-6164 Fax
	Ariyan, Stephan, MD	Professor of Surgery (Plastic) and of Dermatology; Clinical Program Leader, Melanoma Program, Smilow Cancer Hospital	(203) 786-3000 Appts
	Contessa, Joseph N, MD, PhD	Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology	(203) 200-2000 Appts
	Decker, Roy, MD/PhD	Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Clinical Research Program Leader, Therapeutic Radiology, Yale Cancer Center	(203) 200-5864 Appts (203) 688-3501 Fax
	Deshpande, Hari Anant, MD	Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and of Surgery (Otolaryngology) and Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing	(203) 200-4822 Appts (203) 200-2099 Fax
	Johnson, Michele H, MD	Associate Professor of Diagnostic Radiology, of Neurosurgery and of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Director of Interventional Neuroradiology	(203) 785-7026 Appts (203) 737-1077 Fax
	Judson, Benjamin L., MD	Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Associate Residency Program Director, Otolaryngology	(203) 785-2593 Appts (203) 785-3970 Fax
	Kowalski, Diane, MD, MMSc	Associate Professor of Pathology and Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Director, Cytopathology Fellowship Program; Director Residency Program	(203) 785-2788 Appts (203) 785-3585 Fax
	Leffell, David J., MD	David P. Smith Professor of Dermatology and Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology and Plastic); Deputy Dean for Clinical Affairs, Yale School of Medicine; Section Chief, Dermatologic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology	(203) 785-3466 Appts (203) 785-5256 Fax
	Michaelides, Elias, MD	Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology) and of Pediatrics; Director, Yale Hearing & Balance Program; Otolaryngology Program Director	(203) 785-2593 Appts (203) 785-3970 Fax
	Prasad, Manju, MD, MBBCh, MBBS	Associate Professor of Pathology and of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Director, Endocrine, Head & Neck Pathology; Director, Immunohistochemistry Laboratory; Director, Endocrine, Head and Neck Pathology Fellowship
	Rosenblatt, William, MD	Professor of Anesthesiology and of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Director, Anesthesia for otolaryngology ; REMEDY President & Founder	(203) 785-2802 Appts (203) 785-6664 Fax
	Sasaki, Clarence Takashi, MD, FACS	Charles W. Ohse Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology)	(203) 785-2592 Appts (203) 785-3970 Fax
	Son, Yung H, MD	Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Surgery (Otolaryngology)	(203) 688-1861 Appts (203) 785-4622 Fax
	Yarbrough, Wendell Gray, MD, MMHC, FACS	Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology); Section Chief, Otolaryngology; Co-Director Molecular Virology Research Program; Director, Head & Neck Cancer Program, Smilow Cancer Hospital	(203) 785-2593 Appts (203) 785-3970 Fax
	Young, Nwanmegha, MD	Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology)	(203) 785-2593 Appts (203) 785-3970 Fax

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