What Neck Cancer Follow-Up Looks Like: Physical Exams, Imaging and Side-Effect Reviews

The last radiotherapy session ends with a small ceremony in most departments: a handshake, sometimes a bell, a paper cup of water because your mouth is dry. Then the parking lot. A man I spoke with described standing beside his car with the strange sensation that the safety net had just been folded up and put away. For months, someone had looked at his neck every weekday. Now what?

The answer is a structured program of visits, exams and neck cancer follow up imaging that runs for five years and, in some form, for life. It is not an afterthought. Follow-up is where second problems get caught early, where swallowing and voice are protected, and where the slow-burn effects of treatment on thyroid, teeth and jaw are watched.

This explainer walks through what actually happens at those appointments, why scans are timed the way they are, who is scanned routinely and who is not, and which changes should prompt a call rather than a wait.

Why follow-up matters after neck cancer treatment

Treatment for cancers of the throat, larynx, mouth and neck lymph nodes aims to remove or destroy every visible trace of disease. Follow-up exists because ‘visible’ has limits. A small cluster of cells can survive surgery or radiation without showing up on any scan taken in the weeks afterwards, and the neck is a crowded space where new swelling can hide behind scar tissue.

The National Cancer Institute describes follow-up care as serving two jobs at once: checking for return or spread of the original cancer, and managing the health effects that treatment leaves behind. In head and neck cancer the second job is unusually large. Radiation passes through the salivary glands, thyroid, jawbone, swallowing muscles and skin. Surgery can change how the tongue moves or how the shoulder lifts. Chemotherapy given alongside radiation can affect hearing and kidney function.

There is a third, quieter purpose. People treated for one head and neck cancer carry a higher chance of developing a second, separate cancer in the mouth, throat, esophagus or lung, particularly where tobacco or alcohol played a role. The same exam that looks for recurrence is also the screening visit for those new problems.

What follow-up cannot do is guarantee anything. A clear exam means no problem was found that day; it does not promise the months ahead. Oncologists are usually careful to say exactly that, and it is worth hearing the words as reassurance with a boundary rather than as hedging. The value of the program lies in its rhythm: repeated looks by experienced eyes, at intervals chosen to match when trouble is most likely to appear.

What actually happens at a follow-up visit

Most follow-up appointments look more like a careful physical exam than a high-tech event. You will be asked how you are eating, whether pain has changed, how your voice sounds to family, whether anything feels different when you swallow. Those questions are not small talk; a new or worsening symptom is, in practice, the most common way a recurrence first announces itself.

The hands-on part comes next. The clinician feels along both sides of the neck, under the jaw and above the collarbones, checking the lymph node chains for anything firm, fixed or new. Inside the mouth, a light and a tongue depressor allow a look at the tongue, floor of the mouth, gums and the back of the throat. Areas that were operated on or irradiated are compared with the previous visit’s notes.

For cancers of the larynx, pharynx or base of tongue, a flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy is common. That long word means a thin flexible camera passed through the nose to view the throat and voice box directly. It takes a minute or two, usually after a numbing spray, and lets the team see surfaces that no external exam can reach.

Some visits add a dental check, a weight measurement (unintended weight loss is tracked closely), a look at the skin of the neck, and a review of how far you can open your mouth. Blood may be drawn for thyroid function or, for certain cancers, a tumor marker. Imaging is booked separately and is not part of every visit, a point many people find surprising, and which the next sections explain.

What does neck cancer follow up imaging actually involve?

Neck cancer follow up imaging generally draws on four tools, each with a different strength. Knowing which one you are being sent for, and why, makes the process less opaque.

A CT scan uses X-rays to build cross-sectional pictures of the neck and often the chest. It shows the size and shape of structures well and is relatively quick. It is frequently used as the first post-treatment baseline and for chest checks, since the lungs are a common site for both spread and second cancers.

MRI uses magnetic fields rather than radiation and gives clearer detail of soft tissue. Teams often prefer it for tumors of the tongue base, nasopharynx or skull base, or when dental metalwork would blur a CT image. The trade-off is a longer scan in a narrow tube, which some people find hard to tolerate.

PET-CT combines a CT with a positron emission tomography scan, in which a small amount of radioactive sugar is injected and areas of high metabolic activity light up. Cancer cells tend to consume sugar avidly, so PET-CT can flag active disease that looks like ordinary scar on CT alone. Cleveland Clinic notes that inflammation and healing tissue also take up the tracer, which is why timing matters so much.

Ultrasound is a bedside tool, useful for examining a specific lump in the neck and for guiding a needle biopsy of a suspicious node. It does not survey the whole region the way CT or PET-CT does.

No scan is ‘best’ in the abstract. The choice depends on where the original tumor sat, what treatment you had and what question the team is trying to answer that day.

Why the PET scan after head and neck cancer is timed around 12 weeks

People often ask why the first big scan is not done the week treatment ends, when anxiety is highest. The answer is biology. Radiation and chemotherapy leave the tissues of the neck inflamed and swollen for weeks. On a PET-CT, that inflammation absorbs the sugar tracer and glows, producing a picture that can look alarming and yet mean nothing. Scanning too early risks false alarms, unnecessary biopsies and, occasionally, surgery that turns out to have been avoidable.

A large randomized trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, known as PET-NECK, tested this timing directly. Patients with advanced cancers involving the neck lymph nodes who had completed chemoradiotherapy were assigned either to a planned neck dissection (surgical removal of the lymph nodes) or to a PET-CT scan about 12 weeks after treatment, with surgery reserved for those whose scan showed persistent disease. The surveillance approach spared most participants an operation without a detectable cost in outcomes, and it has since become a standard pattern in guidelines internationally.

That is the origin of the ‘three-month scan’ many people are told about. A clear PET-CT at that point is reassuring, though the team will usually keep watching the neck by exam. An equivocal result is common and does not mean recurrence; it often leads to a repeat scan a few weeks later or an ultrasound-guided needle sample rather than immediate action.

The scan itself involves fasting for a few hours, an injection, a quiet wait of roughly an hour while the tracer distributes, and then 20 to 30 minutes on the scanner table. You may be asked to avoid strenuous exercise the day before, because working muscles also take up sugar.

Head and neck cancer surveillance schedule: what the calendar usually looks like

Surveillance schedules vary by tumor site, stage and treatment type, and the National Cancer Institute stresses that your own plan should be written down and explained. Still, a recognizable pattern appears across US and UK guidance: frequent visits early, when recurrence risk is highest, tapering as the years pass. The table below shows one common framework. Your team may use different intervals.

Period after treatment	Typical visit frequency	Typical imaging	Typical side-effect checks
First 3 months	Every few weeks	Baseline PET-CT or CT around 12 weeks	Swallowing, pain, weight, wound or skin healing
Months 3 to 12	Roughly every 1–3 months	Further scans only if exam or symptoms prompt them	Thyroid blood test, dental review, mouth opening
Year 2	Roughly every 2–6 months	As clinically indicated; chest imaging in smokers per team policy	Thyroid, hearing if platinum chemotherapy was given, lymphedema
Years 3 to 5	Roughly every 4–8 months	Symptom-driven	Thyroid, dental, swallowing, second-cancer screening
After year 5	About once a year	Symptom-driven	Long-term effects, carotid and thyroid health

Two features of this table deserve comment. First, imaging becomes symptom-driven quickly. Routine scans of a well person with a normal exam have not been shown to improve outcomes in most head and neck cancers, so many teams stop them after the baseline unless something changes. Second, the side-effect column never empties. Radiation effects on the thyroid, teeth and blood vessels can appear years later, which is why the annual visit continues long after the cancer question has quietened.

Treat the intervals as a map rather than a contract. Your treating team will adjust them to your situation, and you can ask at each visit what the next step will be and why.

Who is offered routine scans, and who is usually asked to wait

Not everyone treated for a neck cancer is put on a scanning schedule, and being told ‘no scan this time’ is more often a sign of confidence than of neglect.

Routine post-treatment imaging is most clearly useful for people whose cancer involved the neck lymph nodes and who were treated with chemoradiotherapy rather than surgery. In that group the 12-week PET-CT decides whether a neck dissection is needed, which is the scenario the PET-NECK trial studied. People with tumors in locations that are hard to examine directly, such as the nasopharynx or the base of the skull, are also more likely to have planned MRI or CT because the physical exam cannot see there.

Where the tumor was small, fully removed surgically with clear margins, and easily visible in the mouth or on a scope, many teams rely on exam alone. The surface can be seen; a scan adds little. Similarly, once the baseline scan is clear and a year or two has passed without symptoms, routine imaging usually stops.

Some people are asked to wait for a different reason. In the first six to eight weeks after radiotherapy, scans are so often clouded by inflammation that most clinicians will not order one unless a new hard lump, bleeding or severe pain forces the question. Waiting in this window is a deliberate strategy to avoid misleading results, not a delay.

Anyone can ask for a scan, and a clinician will explain the reasoning either way. Where anxiety is severe, some teams will arrange an extra exam or scope visit instead, which addresses the worry with a tool that will not produce a false alarm. The decision sits with the treating team, who weigh radiation exposure, false-positive risk and the specific pattern of your cancer.

Recurrence after neck cancer treatment: what the team is really watching for

Recurrence means the return of the original cancer, either at the site where it started, in nearby lymph nodes, or at a distance such as the lungs. Clinical experience and guideline data agree on one point that shapes the whole surveillance schedule: most recurrences in head and neck cancer show up within the first two to three years. That is why the early calendar is crowded and why the later one relaxes.

Local recurrence typically declares itself as a new ulcer that does not heal, pain in the throat or ear that was not there before, a voice that has changed again, or increasing trouble swallowing after a period of steady improvement. Ear pain deserves a special mention. Nerves from the throat share pathways with the ear, so a tumor at the base of the tongue or in the pharynx can present as an earache with a perfectly normal ear examination.

Regional recurrence appears as a lump in the neck. After surgery or radiation the neck is full of firm scar tissue, and telling scar from a new node is genuinely difficult by touch, which is why an ultrasound-guided biopsy is often the next step rather than a guess.

Distant spread, when it occurs, most often involves the lungs, and may cause a persistent cough, breathlessness or chest pain. Bone pain that wakes you at night is another symptom teams take seriously.

None of this is a checklist for self-diagnosis. Scar tissue aches, radiation causes chronic sore throats, and dry mouth makes swallowing harder for reasons unrelated to cancer. The principle is simpler: a change that is new, persistent beyond two or three weeks, or getting worse is worth reporting between visits rather than saving for the next appointment.

Side-effect reviews: swallowing, voice and dry mouth

If recurrence is the headline worry, side effects are the daily reality, and good follow-up spends as much time on them as on the cancer itself.

Swallowing is checked at almost every visit, sometimes with a speech and language therapist present. Radiation stiffens the muscles that lift the larynx and close off the airway, and in some people this stiffening progresses slowly for years. Warning signs the team listens for include coughing during meals, food sticking, meals taking much longer than they used to, and chest infections, which can signal that liquid is slipping into the lungs. Where there is doubt, a videofluoroscopy (an X-ray recording taken while you swallow barium-coated food) or a scope-based swallow test may be arranged. Swallowing exercises are usually continued long after treatment because muscles that are not used tend to tighten further.

Voice changes are reviewed for laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers in particular. A hoarse voice after treatment often improves over months; a voice that improves and then worsens again is a different signal, and one that prompts a scope.

Dry mouth, medically called xerostomia, results from radiation damage to the salivary glands. It affects taste, speech, sleep and, crucially, dental health, because saliva protects teeth from decay. The NHS notes that dryness can improve in the first year or two after treatment but may be permanent when both parotid glands received a high dose. Follow-up here is practical: how you are managing, whether saliva substitutes or stimulants are helping, and whether the dentist has seen you recently. Prescription options exist, and the mechanism and suitability of any of them is a conversation for your prescribing clinician.

Follow up after radiotherapy to the neck: thyroid, teeth, jaw and hearing

The thyroid gland sits low in the front of the neck, directly in the path of radiation for many throat and laryngeal cancers. Over months to years it can slow down, a condition called hypothyroidism, which causes tiredness, weight gain, feeling cold and low mood. Those symptoms overlap with ordinary post-treatment fatigue, so guidelines recommend checking blood levels of TSH, the pituitary hormone that rises when the thyroid underperforms, at regular intervals rather than waiting for complaints. Where replacement thyroid hormone is needed, it is a straightforward daily medication whose selection and adjustment rest with your prescribing clinician.

Teeth need lifelong attention after radiation to the mouth. Reduced saliva accelerates decay, and irradiated jawbone heals poorly. The most serious consequence is osteoradionecrosis, in which a section of jawbone dies after an extraction or injury and fails to heal. Prevention is the whole strategy: high-fluoride products as advised by your dental team, meticulous cleaning, frequent dental visits, and telling any dentist before any procedure that you have had radiotherapy to the jaw, so that extractions are planned with the oncology team.

Jaw stiffness, called trismus, is checked by measuring how many fingers or millimeters you can open. Stretching exercises help most when started early and continued.

Hearing is reviewed for people who received platinum-based chemotherapy alongside radiation, since this class of drug can damage the inner ear, typically causing high-frequency loss or ringing. A baseline hearing test before treatment and follow-up tests afterwards make any change measurable rather than guessed.

Finally, radiation to the carotid arteries in the neck accelerates narrowing of those vessels over years, which raises stroke risk. Teams increasingly review blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking status at follow-up for that reason, and some arrange a carotid ultrasound after several years.

Lymphedema, neck stiffness and shoulder problems

Swelling under the chin that is soft, worse in the morning and better by evening is one of the most common complaints in the first year, and one of the least discussed beforehand. It is usually lymphedema, a build-up of lymph fluid when the vessels and nodes that normally drain it have been removed or scarred by radiation. In the neck it can also occur internally, around the larynx, where it contributes to a muffled voice and a sense of tightness.

Follow-up visits check for lymphedema by looking and by asking. Mild swelling often settles over 12–18 months; where it persists or interferes with swallowing, referral to a lymphedema therapist for manual drainage techniques, compression and self-massage instruction is standard. The team will also want to be sure the swelling is fluid and not a new firm mass, which is a different matter and is examined accordingly.

Neck stiffness after surgery or radiation is nearly universal to some degree. Fibrosis, the medical term for scar-like thickening, tightens skin and muscle so that turning the head or looking up feels restricted. Daily range-of-motion exercises, taught by physiotherapy, slow that process.

Shoulder weakness is specific to people who had a neck dissection in which the accessory nerve, which drives the trapezius muscle, was stretched or removed. The shoulder drops, lifting the arm above the head becomes difficult, and aching develops between the shoulder blades. Physiotherapy started early after surgery improves function considerably, so follow-up visits ask about the shoulder deliberately, especially in the first six months.

None of these problems is a sign of cancer returning. Each is a recognized effect of treatment with a recognized management path, and raising them at a visit is exactly what the visit is for.

What the first weeks and months after treatment usually look like

The period between the end of treatment and the first scan is often described by patients as the hardest stretch of the whole journey. It helps to know roughly what to expect, with the caveat that individuals vary widely and your team’s timeline is the one that counts.

In the first two to three weeks after radiotherapy, side effects frequently get worse before they get better. Skin reactions peak, the throat is at its most sore, and eating may be at its most difficult. Mayo Clinic describes a gradual easing over the following weeks, with mucosal soreness typically improving within one to two months and taste starting to return over several months. Weight is watched closely, and a feeding tube, if one was placed, is usually kept until swallowing is reliably safe.

After surgery, the first weeks center on wound healing, drain removal if applicable, and starting speech and swallow therapy. Numbness of the neck skin and ear lobe is common after a neck dissection and can be permanent; it is not dangerous.

Around the third month, the baseline scan takes place, followed by a visit to discuss it. This is also when the thyroid blood test, dental review and hearing check, if relevant, tend to be arranged. Many people find that energy is still low at this point; fatigue after chemoradiotherapy commonly lingers for six months or more.

By the end of the first year, visits have usually spaced out, most acute effects have settled into a new normal, and the focus shifts toward long-term issues: dry mouth management, thyroid monitoring, dental protection and staying alert to new symptoms. Emotional adjustment often lags behind physical recovery, which is a reason to mention low mood or anxiety at any visit.

Second cancers, smoking, alcohol and looking after your mind

Tobacco and alcohol cause most head and neck cancers not linked to the human papillomavirus, according to the National Cancer Institute, and they keep working on the lining of the mouth, throat, esophagus and lungs after the first cancer is treated. Follow-up therefore includes an honest conversation about both at every visit. Continuing to smoke after treatment raises the risk of a second cancer, worsens healing, aggravates dry mouth and dulls the benefit of radiotherapy on any remaining cells. Stopping at any point still helps. Support programs, counseling and pharmacological aids exist; the choice among them belongs to you and your clinician.

HPV-related throat cancers, most often at the base of the tongue and tonsils, behave differently. People with these cancers tend to be younger, are less likely to be heavy smokers, and generally have a lower risk of a second head and neck cancer. Their follow-up is otherwise similar, with the same attention to swallowing and thyroid function.

Lung cancer is the most common second cancer in people with tobacco-related disease. Some teams include chest imaging in surveillance for current or former heavy smokers who meet general lung screening criteria; others rely on symptoms. Ask which approach your plan takes.

Mental health belongs in this section because it is a medical outcome, not a soft extra. Anxiety before scans, sometimes called scanxiety, is near universal. Depression is common after head and neck cancer, driven by changes to eating, speech and appearance that touch identity directly. Good follow-up asks about mood explicitly, and referral to psycho-oncology, peer support or counseling is a normal part of the pathway rather than a sign of weakness. Sleep, nutrition and gentle exercise all feed into recovery, and a dietitian’s input remains valuable well into the second year.

What people often get wrong about neck cancer follow-up

A few misunderstandings come up so often that correcting them saves real distress.

‘No scan means they are not taking it seriously.’ The opposite is usually true. Routine scans of a well person with a normal exam have not been shown to improve outcomes in most head and neck cancers, and each scan carries a risk of a false alarm. The exam and scope are the workhorses; imaging answers specific questions.

‘A clear PET-CT at three months means I am finished.’ A clear scan is excellent news, but follow-up continues because recurrence risk, while falling, does not vanish for two to three years, and because side effects need lifelong attention. The scan closes one chapter, not the book.

‘Any new lump is cancer.’ Scar tissue, lymphedema, an inflamed salivary gland and a reactive lymph node from a cold all produce lumps in a treated neck. Most are benign. The correct response is to have it examined, not to assume the worst or to ignore it.

‘Symptoms should be saved for the next appointment.’ Follow-up teams want to hear about new or worsening symptoms between visits. Waiting three months with a non-healing ulcer or new ear pain wastes time that matters.

‘Dry mouth and stiffness are just something to live with.’ Both have active management: saliva stimulants, exercise programs, therapy referrals. Reporting them changes what is offered.

‘Dentists do not need to know about the radiotherapy.’ They do, permanently, because an ordinary extraction in irradiated bone can lead to osteoradionecrosis. Carry the information with you.

‘Fatigue this long after treatment means the cancer is back.’ Fatigue lasting six months to a year after chemoradiotherapy is common and multifactorial; an underactive thyroid is one reversible cause the team will check.

Questions to ask your care team

Follow-up visits can feel rushed, and the questions you meant to ask evaporate once the scope is out. Writing them down beforehand helps. These are the ones patients and clinicians most often wish had been raised sooner.

• What is my written follow-up plan, and how often will I be seen in the first year, the second and beyond?
• Which scan, if any, am I having as a baseline, when, and what will it tell us that an exam cannot?
• After that baseline, will imaging be routine or only if something changes, and why has that approach been chosen for my cancer?
• Who do I contact between visits if I notice a new symptom, and how quickly should I expect a response?
• How often will my thyroid be checked, and who acts on the result?
• Do I need to see a dentist with experience of irradiated patients, and what should I tell any dentist before treatment?
• Should I continue swallowing, jaw and neck exercises, and for how long?
• Was the accessory nerve affected in my surgery, and do I need physiotherapy for my shoulder?
• Did my chemotherapy carry a hearing risk, and will I have a follow-up hearing test?
• Am I a candidate for any chest imaging given my smoking history?
• Which of my current symptoms are expected effects of treatment, and which would you want to hear about if they changed?
• Is there support available for mood, anxiety before scans, or the impact of treatment on eating and appearance?
• When will follow-up move from the specialist team to my primary care physician, and what will that handover include?

Bring a companion if you can. A second set of ears catches details, and many clinics are happy to give a printed summary of the visit and the plan.

When to call your doctor

Between scheduled visits, contact your treating team promptly rather than waiting for the next appointment if you notice any of the following. None is a diagnosis in itself; each is a change the team would want to assess.

• A new lump in the neck, under the jaw or above the collarbone, especially one that is firm, painless and growing over days to weeks.
• A mouth or throat ulcer that has not healed after two to three weeks.
• New or worsening pain in the throat, jaw or ear, particularly one-sided ear pain with a normal ear.
• A voice that had improved and is becoming hoarse or weaker again.
• Increasing difficulty swallowing, food sticking, or coughing and choking during meals.
• Coughing up blood, or blood in saliva or from the nose that persists.
• Unintended weight loss, or a persistent cough, breathlessness or chest pain.
• Fever, spreading redness, or foul-smelling discharge from a surgical wound or feeding tube site.
• Exposed bone in the mouth, or jaw pain and swelling after dental work.
• Sudden weakness on one side, slurred speech or loss of vision, which are stroke symptoms and warrant emergency care immediately.

Seek emergency care without delay for any difficulty breathing, noisy breathing when at rest, heavy bleeding from the mouth or neck, or a swallowing problem so severe that you cannot manage your own saliva.

The purpose of follow-up is not to keep you in a state of vigilance but to give you a clear line of communication. Most calls end with reassurance. The ones that do not are exactly why the line exists, and your treating team is the right place for every decision about what happens next.

Frequently asked questions

What does a head and neck cancer surveillance schedule typically include?

It usually combines a physical exam of the neck and mouth, a flexible camera check of the throat when needed, one baseline scan around three months after treatment, and regular reviews of swallowing, thyroid function, dental health and other side effects. Visits are most frequent in the first two years, then taper toward an annual check. Your written plan may differ from the general pattern.

Why is the PET scan after head and neck cancer done at 12 weeks and not sooner?

Because inflamed, healing tissue absorbs the same sugar tracer that cancer does, an early PET-CT often lights up in areas that are simply recovering. Waiting roughly 12 weeks lets that inflammation settle, so the scan is far more reliable. The PET-NECK trial used this timing to decide who needed neck surgery, and the approach is now widely followed.

How likely is recurrence after neck cancer treatment, and when does it usually happen?

Risk varies widely by tumor site, stage, HPV status and treatment, so only your own team can put a number on it. What guidelines agree on is timing: most recurrences occur within the first two to three years, which is why follow-up visits cluster in that window. Recurrence after five years is uncommon but not impossible.

What is checked at follow up after radiotherapy to the neck?

Beyond looking for recurrence, the team reviews swallowing, voice, dry mouth, jaw opening, neck stiffness, skin changes and lymphedema. Blood tests for thyroid function are repeated at intervals because radiation can slowly cause an underactive thyroid. Dental health is reviewed closely, and hearing may be tested if platinum chemotherapy was part of treatment.

Will I have a CT or MRI scan at every follow-up visit?

Usually not. After a baseline scan around three months, most teams order imaging only when a symptom or exam finding raises a question. The physical exam and throat scope are the main surveillance tools, and repeated scans of a well person have not been shown to improve outcomes in most head and neck cancers, while they can cause false alarms.

Is a lump in my neck after treatment always cancer?

No. Scar tissue, lymphedema, a reactive lymph node from an infection or an inflamed salivary gland can all cause lumps in a treated neck, and most turn out to be benign. A new, firm or growing lump should still be examined promptly, often with an ultrasound and sometimes a needle sample, so the team can tell the difference.

How long does follow-up after neck cancer last?

Specialist surveillance for recurrence typically runs for five years, after which many people move to annual checks, often shared with primary care. Monitoring of treatment effects such as thyroid function, dental health and carotid artery narrowing continues for life, because these can develop many years after radiotherapy to the neck.

Why does my ear hurt when the cancer was in my throat?

Nerves from the throat, tongue base and larynx share pathways with the ear, so pain from those areas is often felt in the ear even when the ear itself is normal. This referred pain can be caused by treatment changes, but new or worsening one-sided ear pain after a period of improvement is something your team will want to examine.

Can I stop swallowing and jaw exercises once treatment is over?

Most teams advise continuing them long term. Radiation fibrosis, the scar-like stiffening of muscle, can progress slowly for years, and muscles that are not used tend to tighten further. Regular gentle exercises for swallowing, mouth opening and neck movement help preserve function. Your speech and language therapist can adjust the program at follow-up visits.

Who should I tell that I had radiotherapy to my head and neck?

Every dentist and oral surgeon you see for the rest of your life, before any procedure, because extractions in irradiated jawbone can lead to osteoradionecrosis, a failure of bone to heal. It also helps to tell new primary care physicians, so that thyroid checks, stroke risk factors and second-cancer awareness stay on their radar.

References

• NHS: Head and neck cancer
• Cleveland Clinic: PET scan

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.