Understanding Head & Neck Cancers
NECK CANCERS ARE A SUBGROUP OF CANCERS FORMALLY KNOWN AS HEAD AND NECK CANCERS. THESE
Cancers are biologically similar to each other and can start in places such as the lining of the nose, throat, mouth, skin and, rarely, the ear. Approximately 90 percent of all head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. so-called because the cancers start in the squamous cells that line the moist, mucosal surfaces inside the head and neck.
It should be noted that brain cancers are different from head and neck cancers in that, while the brain is of course necessarily part of the head, the type of cancer that forms within the brain are biologically different from those that form on the head and neck. A neck and head cancer can, however, spread (metastasize) into the brain, becoming brain cancer in the process.