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Lip Cancer Treatment

About 35,310 people are newly diagnosed with lip and mouth cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Sometimes referred to oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer, lip cancer most often occurs in middle-aged or older adults. The American Cancer Society estimates that 7,590 people died of oral cavity cancer in 2008, but there are several treatments for people with this type of malignancy.

  1. Surgery

    • There are several surgeries used to treat someone with lip cancer. Depending on the extent of the cancer's spread, the surgeon may remove the cancerous tumor and skin around it (called a primary tumor resection). Another surgical option for people with lip cancer is Mohs micrographic surgery, where the doctor removes thin slices of the cancerous tissue.

    Radiation Therapy

    • Targeted X-rays or particles can be used to kill the cancerous cells or retard their growth. Because radiation therapy can be limited to a specific area, it is often used to treat small cancer sites, such as those in lip cancer.

    Chemotherapy

    • According to the National Cancer Institute, chemotherapy---or the use of drugs to for cancer treatment---is used primarily for cancers involving larger tumors, not those involving just the lip. However, when oral cavity cancers are treated with chemotherapy, oncologists typically used the drugs cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), the American Cancer Society reports.

    Targeted Therapy

    • A relatively new type of therapy used to treat oral cancers is called targeted therapy. Using intravenous medications, doctors block epidermal growth factor receptors, which often cause the growth of cancerous tumors in the lip and mouth. These intravenous medications help curb the cancer's growth.

    Clinical Trials

    • Patients with lip cancer may also enroll in clinical trials, research studies that test cutting-edge treatments. Enrollment in a clinical trial may give a patient access to surgeries, radiation treatments, chemotherapies, medications and other therapies that are new and not yet considered standard treatment.

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