Louise,

MD Anderson and Johns Hopkins are probably the two best hospitals for H&N cancer in the USA.

Sorry to hear this is a recurrence. Did he have radiation or chemo the first time? Does he have any records from his treatment in Germany? If not, is he able to get records (biopsy, doctor/surgical reports, etc.)? Over the years I was to 4 different hospitals/doctors and most requested prior medical records. Is the current location of the tumor the same as in 2006?

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has a lengthy & detailed document on H&N cancer treatment guidelines. This shows recommended treatment by cancer location and stage. If you do a search from the OCF main pages on NCCN guidelines, it should bring up this document.

If you go to 3 different doctors for an opinion, you will likely get three different treatment plans. The lymph nodes are usually the first place OC will spread after the primary, therefor a neck dissection is often recommended even in stage1 cases. (I didn't have one, but had RT to the neck instead.)

I didn't have speech therapy after my OC treatment, but I did have it as a child and did those same exercises after surgery and radiation which helped. This is something you should discuss with his doctor - depends on how extensive the surgery is and the location.

Radiation isn't fun, but it is effective in killing those remaining cancer cells.