Department of head and neck surgical oncology
The Department offers surgical, combination and multimodality treatment of tumors of the head and neck.
The scope of the Department’s expertise includes:
- malignant neoplasms of the lips
- thyroid cancer
- laryngeal cancer
- mouth cancer
- pharynx cancer
- cancer of the upper and lower jaw
- paranasal sinus cancer and nasal cavity cancer
- tongue cancer
- tonsil cancer
- salivary gland cancer
- oral mucosa melanoma
- malignant neoplasms of the cervical esophagus
- metastatic lesions of the lymphatic apparatus of the neck
- malignant neoplasms of the facial skeleton
- basal-cell carcinomas of the head and neck
- soft tissue sarcomas of the head and neck
- skin cancers of the head and neck
- melanomas of the head and neck.
When indicated, patients also receive combination and multimodality treatment that may consist of various types of radiation therapy, total body chemotherapy (including continuous chemotherapy) or regional chemotherapy. The Department offers all types of chemotherapy (pre-surgery, preventive, treatment and palliative chemotherapy).
The specialists of the Department wrote a booklet for patients who undergo radiation therapy for head and neck tumors at the Department. This booklet gives treatment overview, and helps to understand what side-effects may occur during treatment and what can be done to reduce them.
Patients with locally advanced tumors undergo tumor removal in combination with simultaneous reconstruction and repair, which has an advantage of shorter rehabilitation periods and quicker restoration of unassisted breathing, speaking and swallowing. The Department performs various types of reconstructive and plastic surgeries to restore and repair the skin of the face, neck and hairy part of the head, including the eyelids and the periocular area, the upper and lower lip, and the tongue and the mouth, as well as surgeries to restore the continuity of the jaw and to close pharyngostomas.
Every year more than 600 patients with tumors of the head and neck receive specialist treatment at the Department. The Department has 25 beds accommodating inpatients in 8 rooms: seven 4-bed rooms and one 2-bed room. The specialist medical care offered by the Department uses the latest medical technological innovations, such as laser surgeries, cryosurgeries, and surgical treatment in combination with chemoradiation to treat disseminated tumors.
The Department uses the latest methods of cancer treatment that combine surgical therapy, medical therapy and radiation therapy and meet the international standards. The Department often uses one-stage surgical interventions which reduce the number of surgeries a patient has to undergo and the duration of their hospital stay. The Department uses endovideosurgery, flexible endoscopy, laser and radio-frequency technology and ultrasound-guided and X-ray-guided procedures.
The Department’s surgeons use the cutting-edge equipment, such as a Harmonic Focus device (USA), a Liga Sure electrosurgical device (USA), and a ETS Flex compact articulating linear cutter, which allow to minimize blood loss and trauma to the tissue during excision of a tumor, achieve shorter wound healing times and reduce the number of post-surgery complications. The operating room of the Department has a uniquely designed state-of-the art OPMI VARIO 700 surgical microscope for essential needs by Zeiss (Germany). Automated focus with SpeedFokus ensures optimal visualization and allows to perform micro-vascular reconstruction, microneurolysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and microneuroplasty to restore movements of facial muscles.
The Department offers all types of specialist surgical treatment:
- Radiofrequency thermoablation; laser removal procedures; photodynamic therapy; and cryodestruction
- Microsurgery; extensive surgery; combined surgery; and plastic and reconstructive surgery to remove head and neck tumors, including videoendoscopic surgeries, using microsurgical autotransplantation of tissue
- Combination treatment of benign and malignant tumors and tumor-like diseases of the jaw, oral musoca, and salivary glands, using the technique of one-stage repair of defects resulting from tumor removal and cancer excision
- Unique surgeries aimed at radical removal of tumors of the maxillofacial area and neck in combination with one-stage repair of defects and restoration of the main functions: microsurgical repair of defects of the face and jaw, using autologous tissue – soft tissue and osseous structures. Microneuroplasty to restore movements of facial muscles
- Reconstruction of the facial skeleton, using autologous tissue and allogenic material, composite bio-compatible material and bioengineering techniques for head and neck reconstruction
- Combined excision of tumors of the tongue, oropharyngeal cavity and mouth and simultaneous repair of surgical defects with pedicled flaps or free flaps, using microsurgery techniques
- Removal of skin tumors of the head combined with various one-step reconstruction procedures
- Plastic and reconstructive microsurgeries after removal of head and neck tumors
- V-wedge excision of the lip, rectangular excision of the lip, subtotal resection of the lip, removal of the lip with resection of the facial skeleton
- Orofacial resection with the closing of an orostoma
- Tongue excision
- Hemiglossectomy
- Glossectomy
- Glossectomy combined with resection of the jaw and mouth floor with the closure of an orostoma
- Removal of mouth tumors
- Minimally-invasive surgical treatment of tumors of the paranasal sinuses
- Removal of neoplasms of connective tissue and other soft tissues of the head, face and neck
- Surgical treatment of diseases of the salivary glands with microneurolysis of the branches of the facial nerve
- Surgical treatment of the larynx and the upper part of the trachea
- Surgical treatment of diseases of the thyroid gland, including thyroid cancers, with microneurolysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve
- Primary and delayed voice prosthesis fitting
- Removal of metastases of the neck, including with replacement of major blood vessels
- Removal of lymph nodes and fatty tissue of the neck
- Extended neck lymphadenectomy.
The Department has developed unique reconstruction techniques that are used to treat patients with disseminated tumors of the thyroid gland, which require complex surgical procedures to correct the defects brought by tissue loss.
Head of the Department
The Department is headed by Dr Zamira A. Radzhabova, oncologist, researcher, Docent, PhD in Medicine.
Physicians of the Department:
Dr Semen S. Artemyev, oncologist, surgeon
Dr Maksim A. Kotov, oncologist
Dr Maksim O. Kustov, oncologist, ENT specialist, PhD in Medicine
Dr Aleksandr S. Mitrofanov, oncologist, PhD student
Dr Rustam A. Nadzhmudinov, oncologist, PhD in Medicine
Dr Daria A. Sinyachkina, oncologist, PhD in Medicine
The specialists of the Department are all highly-qualified surgical oncologists who have mastered all modern types of treatment and diagnostic procedures.
The Department pursues research into ways of improving diagnostic techniques, and conservative and surgical treatments.