Radiation therapy and Chemotherapy for oral carcinomas

The treatment of oral cancers is ideally a multidisciplinary approach involving the efforts of surgeons, radiation oncologists, chemotherapy oncologists, dental practitioners, nutritionists, and rehabilitation and restorative specialists. Curative treatment modalities are usually surgery and radiation, with chemotherapy added to sensitize the malignant cells to radiation, to decrease the possibility of metastasis, or as a curative treatment for those patients who have confirmed distant metastasis. The factors that influence the choice of treatment modality are related to a tumour and the desires of the patient. Primary site, size of a tumour, lymph node involvement and the presence or absence of distant metastasis are factors which will affect a particular treatment option. This book reviews the concepts of radiation therapy and chemotherapy used for oral cancers and is useful for those who intend to know in brief about these treatment modalities for oral cancers.