HNCF Reveals Minimally Invasive Treatment for Oral Tumours

Charity Pioneers Approach to Reduce Magnitude of Surgery

The Head & Neck Cancer Foundation announce that Professor Mark McGurk, UCLH, and Co-Founding Trustee of the charity has led the development of a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of odontogenic tumours.

Odontogenic tumours mainly occur in the lower jaw and are locally invasive. The lesions are generally discovered incidentally on a dental X-ray, by which point they are quite large. The bones in the jaw and face develop differently from that of the skeleton so present a unique set of complications. Some odontogenic tumours, such as ameloblastoma, occur from abnormalities in tooth development. Other forms of the tumour, such as fibro-osseous or giant cell lesions, emerge due to disturbances in bone growth.

Professor McGurk explains why odontogenic tumours historically present such a high risk: “Traditional surgery involves physically removing lesions from the jaw, which leads to significant facial disfigurement. This can be extremely distressing for patients, especially as the majority of the tumours are found in adolescents or young adults. These extensive operations take up to ten hours to perform, as bone is taken from the hip or leg to rebuild the jaw. Patients will be hospitalised for at least ten days and the procedure carries a significant rate of morbidity.”

The minimally invasive procedure involves removing the tumour lining from the jaw and cleaning the bone cavity with a drill. A chemical is then applied to catch any of the small cells that may remain. This is a comparatively short surgery lasting one to two hours and most patients will only stay in hospital for a couple of days. They will experience no obvious changes to their appearance. The procedure can simply be repeated if there is reoccurrence and patients are completely unrestricted in possible future treatment plans.

Professor McGurk comments on how the oncology community will embrace this procedure: “At HNCF we are always looking at how we can improve postoperative outcomes for patients with head and neck cancers. Treatment for this type of tumour has now evolved from extensive surgery to a much simpler procedure that carries significantly smaller mental and physical impacts for patients. With our work, we hope that this becomes the normalised practise across the NHS and the United Kingdom.”

This new minimally invasive approach is being championed by Professor McGurk and his team. It has already been adopted by surgeons around the world and a growing number of NHS Trusts across the UK.