We have discussed this here a lot and there was a really good paper presented at a recent major head and neck cancer conference that elucidates some of the good that comes from them. The article is in the recent oral cancer in the news section of the web site, titled

Greater Accuracy in Staging Can Influence Long-Term Treatment Options in Oropharyngeal Cancer: Presented at AHNS

Note we are currently working on rebuilding the database for the OCF site since it now has THOUSANDS of news articles ( you guys need to subscribe to the feed for free) and there isn't in the last months postings of stories a really good search engine to look at these by date and title. That is coming, and Chester will have the code written in the next couple of days

If I knew the feed, I would sign up for it in a minute. LOL , But me and computers sometimes look at the world differently. I try to do something and it does something different.

thank you, I have posted a question regarding same and will look at this when I have time...meanwhile have many appts today interviewing surgeons.

I am still not finding the article tho! Can anyone help me out? I went to the news section and don't see a search engine in there and haven't found it by browsing.

Marma --

Here's the article Brian was talking about.

-- Leslie

thanks a mill

im not able to find a definition of oropharyngeal that i understand but i don't think it includes tongue does it?

You might find the NCCN practice guidelines helpful.
I know I certainly have, but keep in mind this cancer is also quite new to me.
http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/head-and-neck.pdf

I believe you may need to get the doctors to be a bit more precise about the diagnosis (what part of his tongue) after which you can follow it thru the NCCN�s recommended diagnosis and treatment matrix.

You will find info as to staging on pg 65 (T1,N0, M0�.)

I found it easier to just download this pdf since I had to keep going back to it as my doctors worked their way thru my DX (diagnosis) to arrive at my TX (Treatment Plan). Also you may need to click around the pdf a bit to get use to it and I suggest you look thru the whole document.

The NCCN membership is composed of our most reputable Cancer Centers and these guidelines should be closely followed by others. I am being treated at an accredited Community Cancer Center and they seem to have closely followed the steps shown to arrive at my DX and now my TX.

The NCCN Member Institutions are:
City of Hope
Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women�s Cancer Center
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center / Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital & Richard J. Solove Research Institute at The Ohio State University
The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital / University of Tennessee Cancer Institute
Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center
University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at The Nebraska Medical Center
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

All the centers are also listed on the OCF main site, under the link additional resources link on the entry page of the site.

The pharynx has three parts, the nasopharynx which is above what you can see when you look in your mouth at the back of your throat, that part that you can see, is itself the oropharynx (the oral aspect of the pharynx), and the lower pharynx which is then the part below your tongue in your throat down to the hyoid bone. The tongue itself is not any part of the pharynx, most of it is in the oral cavity and not in the oropharynx.

Thanks to everyone