Head and Neck Cancer Treatment

When it comes to treating head and neck cancers, the quality of care truly matters. You need leading-edge treatments and the expertise of top specialists.

At Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, staying local never means compromising your care. We provide the same level of advanced treatments typically found in a large, university hospital. The only difference: We offer you that care in a community setting that’s close to home.

Head and Neck Cancer Treatment: Why Choose Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health?

Our head and neck cancer program is fully integrated with Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. That means you’ll receive the same expertise and innovative treatment options available in the city, right here in Lancaster.

Other benefits of receiving head and neck cancer treatment at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health include:

• Top-ranked specialists: When you need head and neck cancer treatment, you want access to physicians with expertise and experience specific to these complex conditions. Our head and neck cancer team includes some of the top-ranked specialists in the world.
• Collaborative approach: Your care team includes specialists in all areas of head and neck cancer care. They meet weekly as part of our tumor board. Together, they discuss each patient’s care, personalizing and updating your treatment plan to ensure the best results.
• Access to advanced treatments: We offer the latest options for head and neck cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation and proton therapy and TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS).You’ll also have access to promising new therapies through clinical trials both here and at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.
• Comprehensive care, close to home: Many of the treatments for head and neck cancer require hospital visits several times a week. By offering exceptional care right in Lancaster, we help improve your quality of life and make cancer treatment easier to manage.

How We Treat Head and Neck Cancer

Effectively treating head and neck cancer often requires a combination of therapies. That’s why your care team works together to create a treatment plan personalized to your individual needs.

Your head and neck cancer care may include:

• Surgery: We use minimally invasive techniques whenever possible to remove cancerous tumors from the head and neck. The director of our head and neck cancer program, Geoffrey Weinstein, MD, FACS, pioneered TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS). This minimally invasive technique provides the most precise removal of cancerous tissue, without harming healthy tissue. This allows you to heal faster, and regain swallowing, eating and speaking function more easily.
• Radiation: Radiation therapy—sometimes used along with surgery or chemotherapy—is a cornerstone of head and neck cancer treatment. And we are one of the few regional cancer centers in the country offering proton therapy. For certain patients, this unique type of radiation may be more effective, with fewer side effects.
• Chemotherapy: We rarely use chemotherapy alone to treat head and neck cancer. But it may be part of your overall treatment plan. Used after surgery, chemotherapy can help kill any remaining cancer cells surgery can’t remove. We also use chemotherapy to slow the growth of systemic head and neck cancer that can’t be cured.
• Immunotherapy: Innovative immunotherapy drugs help your immune system target and kill cancer cells. This therapy can effectively manage head and neck cancer—often with fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.

Request an Appointment

To make an appointment at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, call 717-544-9400 or request an appointment using our online form.