Head and Neck Cancer Tests

It is important that your doctor establishes the diagnosis of your type of Head and Neck Cancer, assesses the size of the cancer and whether it has spread to the lymph nodes in the neck or elsewhere in the body.

To answer these questions, your doctor will need to do the following things:

• Talk with you about your medical history. This includes signs you may have noticed, any other health conditions, medications that you are taking, and whether you smoke or drink alcohol.
  
  
• Perform a physical examination by feeling and looking inside your throat and neck.
  
  
• Order diagnostic tests, which may include scans or a biopsy.

A biopsy involves removal of a tissue sample that is then examined in detail by a specialist pathologist, under a microscope to look for cancer cells. Biopsies can often be performed in the office with local anaesthetic, but occasionally require sedation or general anaesthesia (you will be asleep and will not remember what happens during the procedure) in the operating room.

Not everyone will need to have every test. Your doctor will recommend tests that are right for you.