My partner was diagnosed with locally advanced tonsil cancer in August last year. He was 48 at the time and although he gave up smoking 5 years previous, he had started smoking at an early age. Thus we were led to believe that the cancer was smoking related. (He has never been much of a drinker)

During the last year I have been reading up on head and neck cancer and have become increasingly interested in the HPV link and as he had a cystic presentation I have started to wonder whether his tumour was HPV positive. As my partner has decided that he wants to know as little as possible about his cancer, I don't feel able to ask questions about the tumour histology etc during consultations in case I upset him, but I would be interested in your opinions as to whether you think it is a possibility.

I think the first sign that something was wrong probably occured in late 2007 when he had a swelling in his partoid gland that seemed to go away after antibiotics. In May 2008 a large swelling suddenly appeared in his neck and after a few rounds of antibiotics he was referred to a specialist. FNA results came back negative and the consultant decided that it was probably a branchial cyst and elected to excise it in mid July, by which time Chaz seemed quite unwell and had suffered on an off with a bad cold and bronchitis. In a post op discussion the surgeons were sure that it was indeed a benign branchial cyst and thus we were extremely shocked to be told 3 weeks later, during a routine follow up that he had SCC cancer. He was subsequently sent for a PET/CT scan which revealed a possible small primary in the tonsil fossa (max SUV 8.7 - although this was not clinically evident and no radiographical evidence of any other disease in the neck. He subsequently had a tonsillectomy/ which was called a biopsy. Again after the operation the surgeon said that the tonsil looked 'perfectly normal', but the histology report confirmed SCC. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the tumour grade etc. We werent told then and my partner never asked. Does this sound as if his cancer could have been HPV related?