My wife had prolonged hoarseness and the ENT said she had a lesion on her vocal cord and recommended removing it. We did and just got the biopsy report today that confirmed she had SCC in situ. The ENT originally thought it was a papilloma from sight, and it was also confirmed P16. He said that since it is stage 0, observation is considered an acceptable plan of attack but wants us to meet with a radiologist just to be better informed in case we want to treat it with radiation. We were hoping some members might be able to share some opinions on the pro/cons of radiation at this stage and also might have some insight if a general ENT would be able to observe the area sufficiently, or would it be smarter to find an ENT that specializes in oral cancer? Also, can one observe the area with the microscope down the throat, or do you need an MRI every once and awhile? Please excuse my ignorance, as all of this is new to me.

Thanks

Hi Madsdad,

I'm glad you've found this site, i found it to be so helpful when i was first diagnosed. I would highly recomend going to an ENT that specialises in cancer. You'd want someone who have done this operation lots of times before.

Minh

I would recommend that you take the path report and the slides to a CCC and get an informed recommendation. We are not oral cancer docs here and SCC is not to be taken litely.

CCC's

http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/resources/cancer_centers.htm

BEST CANCER HOSPITALS

http://health.usnews.com/health/best-hospitals/cancer-hospital-rankings/

Take it from someone who presented originally with what seemed to be small and easy case: don't take anything for granted.
It may be that she can be oberserved closely and that will be acceptable, but, perhaps not. I echo the other comments you got about getting to a specialist who has dealt with this type of cancer many times.

What you do now may determine how this disease will ultimately affect your wife, and yourself, in terms of curability.

Anne

Madsdad- I presented with the same thing carinoma in situ when my journey began. I went for a year and half just having checks and have papillomas removed. I had 5 or 6 surgies during that time. By a fluke I was sent to see a speech therapist who noticed when magnified my tonsil looked strange and I ended up having cancer in my tonsil. After removal of my tonsil that has ended growths around my vocal cord.

The standard practice is to watch you and if more papillomas/growths develop then look to radiation. You can only have radiation in an area once (there are some variations to this too but that is what they told me) so you hate to waste radiation if it has only occured once.