A team of doctors from different specialties, recently joined hands to demonstrate how a team based approach can benefit cancer patients. Dr. Peter Costantino, an otolaryngologist, about three years ago, found a rare and often fatal tumor in Angela Carrozza’s nasal cavity and right eye socket. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, nearly 38,000 cases of head and neck cancer were diagnosed in 2002. This type of cancer makes up about 3 percent of all cancers. Prior to this team based approach, these tumors either weren’t treated or they were treated and the patients were left with pretty deforming or devastating problems. However now, Dr. Constantino and a team of neuro-anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, head and neck surgeons and reconstructive surgeons work together to remove these types of tumors and then reconstruct the patient’s skull and face. Dr. Constatino added that if the patient was not treated by such a team, they usually paid for it with their appearance, their function, recurrence of the tumor, or their very lives.
Carrozza, who was recently treated by such a team of specialists has only a scar as a visible sign of surgery. Doctors claim that her prognosis has been good.
