Robotic surgery vs. radiation, chemo for throat cancer, study to see which is best

By: Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press, April 17, 2013Source: ottawacitizen.com  TORONTO - It was quite a shock for Rod Sinn when he learned the persistent sore throat he'd had for five months, initially diagnosed as tonsillitis, was actually an increasingly common form of throat cancer caused by the human papilloma virus. Equally unpleasant was the news that the standard treatment for oropharyngeal cancer, which typically affects the back of the tongue, tonsils and nearby tissues, is radiation and chemotherapy. Sinn, a physically fit non-smoker who only drinks alcohol occasionally, had seen what the double-barrelled treatment could do. A friend diagnosed with throat cancer a year earlier and given the standard treatment lost his salivary glands and sense of taste. "I thought, wait a minute, there's got to be another option. I really don't like the side-effects of all that radiation," the 52-year-old businessman, who lives in Oakville, Ont., near Toronto, said Tuesday. After searching the Internet, he discovered doctors at Western University in London, Ont., were the only ones in Canada performing robotic-assisted surgery for throat cancer. Sinn had the robotic surgery in spring 2011, plus a follow-up operation to remove some lymph nodes for testing to make sure his cancer hadn't spread. While the surgery left him unable to swallow for several weeks and he lost some taste buds for a time, he is virtually back to normal except for some numbness in his neck where the lymph nodes were removed. "It was fantastic," said Sinn, who counts himself a believer [...]