Free Head and Neck Cancer Screening to Help Save Lives

March 7, 2022

Led by Dr. Rohan Walvekar, a Head and Neck Surgeon at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, LSU Health New Orleans ENT faculty and medical students will conduct a free community head and neck cancer screening on Sunday, March 13, 2022, from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m., at Broadmoor Community Church, 2021 South Dupre Street, New Orleans. Offered on a first-come, first-served basis, the potentially life-saving screening involves an examination of the oral cavity and neck, as well as counseling about risk factors for head and neck cancers. Participants will be referred for follow-up where warranted.

Head and neck cancers include cancers of the oral cavity, throat (pharynx), voice box (larynx), paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity, and salivary glands.

According to the National Cancer Institute, head and neck cancers account for nearly 4% of all cancers in the United States. These cancers are more than twice as common among men as they are among women and are also diagnosed more often among people over age 50 than they are among younger people. Researchers estimated that more than 68,000 men and women in the United States would be diagnosed with head and neck cancers in 2021. Most will be diagnosed with mouth, throat, or voice box cancer. Paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancer and salivary gland cancer are much less common.

If oral cancer is caught when the disease is still localized (when it has not spread beyond the original tumor site), the 5-year relative survival rate is about 85%. Treatment for very early-stage oral cancer may require only minor surgery to remove the cancer.

The major risk factors for oral cancer are smoking and the use of tobacco products, drinking alcohol, especially together, and prior cancer in the region. HPV infection can also increase risk. Signs and symptoms of oral cancer include a sore in the mouth that doesn’t go away, sore throat or the feeling that something is caught in your throat, difficulty chewing or swallowing, difficulty moving or swelling in your jaw, a change in the voice, thickening of your cheek, or a growth or swelling in the neck.

The first 60 people screened will receive a Southerns Chicken Sandwich as an added bonus.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans (LSU Health New Orleans) educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's health sciences university leader, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with branch campuses in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous annual economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO, or http://www.facebook.com/LSU