I was diagnosed with oral cancer in early summer, had surgery late July which removed an almost 3cm tumor and a good portion of my soft palate with a hole going up into my sinus cavity. I was told it was a stage II mucodermoid carcinoma, now I've tried many searchs but haven't come up with any info on 'mucodermoid' (or even muco anything) and would like more info if anyone would be able to direct me to where I can find it.. The hole in my mouth is reducing (yeah! ) and with my obtrator I am able to eat fairly 'normally'.. still sound kinda nasally, but I can't (and won't)complain! There was a small lump that had developed in my 'hole' about 1 month post-surgery that was biopsied and found to be negative, my MD is having me in for monthly check-ups to 'keep an eye on things'... so anyway any info would be appreciated

Thanks & Keep the Faith!
Julie D.

What we have here is just a matter of semantics. If you breakdown mucodermoid (mucodermis), you would be talking about the soft tissues, like skin (dermis), and those which are specific to the mucosal (muco) linings of the mouth etc. So rather than describing a specific type of cancer such as squamous cell carcinoma, he has described a cancer by saying where it was found... on a particular location or type of tissue. This is not a very exact way of telling you specifically which cancer you have, which can be determined specifically from your pathology report, which was generated by someone who looked at it from the cellular level.

Julie:

Glad to hear you are doing well. I agree with Brian-get a copy of the final surgical path report. 95% of oral cancers are squamous cells and the other 5% tend to be lymphomas. It is really best to know what you are dealing with because it has implications for follow-up care and monitoring. It is a bit surprising that noone shared these details with you.

Also, ask if the tumor was encapsulated or undifferentiated. What about your nodes? Where was the primary site of the tumor? Sorry, I could tell exactly from your post although I did see that you had some of your palate removed.

Best Wishes for continued recovery,

Kim