Radiation therapy is also used, and chemotherapy is being tested as a treatment for oral cancers. Surgery may involve the removal of the cancer as well as some of the surrounding healthy tissue. Nearby lymph nodes may also be removed. Microsurgery is a new technique now being tested in which the doctor removes the cancer and then uses a microscope to look for any remaining cancer cells. With this procedure, less health tissue is removed.
Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy rays to attack cancer cells.
Like surgery, it only affects cancer in the areas that are treated. The radiation may come from a machine outside the body, or from radioactive isotopes placed in the area where cancer cells are found. Patients who quit smoking prior to radiation therapy are more likely to survive longer. In chemotherapy, drugs are used to kill cancer cells. These drugs travel throughout the body in the blood.