Head and Neck Cancer Diagnosis

Winship Cancer Institute has a team of radiologists and pathologists dedicated solely to otolaryngologic cancers, meaning they are experts at head and neck cancer diagnosis and staging. That’s important because the stage of your disease indicates whether it has spread to your lymph nodes and other parts of the body.

If you have symptoms of head and neck cancer, your physician will order tests to detect, analyze and stage your cancer. At Winship, we take a multi-stage approach to ensure every patient gets a thorough and accurate head and neck cancer diagnosis.

Diagnostic imaging. At Winship, we use the latest imaging technologies to make an accurate head and neck cancer diagnosis. Depending on the location being examined, you may receive positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or high-resolution computed tomography (CT) imaging to help us identify cancerous growth and determine whether or how far the disease has spread within the body.

Endoscopy. During this exam, a long, flexible tube called an endoscope is used to look for abnormalities throughout the head and neck. The endoscope has a light and a camera at its end so your physician can get a close-up look at the area in question. During this exam, which may or may not be performed under sedation, your physician can also collect samples of tissue for lab testing.

Biopsy. The only definitive way to determine whether a lump or lesion in the head or neck is cancerous is to remove a sample of it (biopsy) and test it in the lab. Our team of dedicated interventional radiologists use fine needle aspiration whenever possible to collect samples for testing without surgery.

Molecular pathology. If your tumor is determined to be cancerous, our head and neck pathologists will conduct cell staining at the protein expression in your tumor. This lets them identify any biomarkers or cell characteristics that may affect your treatment.