Surgical Management of Soft Palate Cancer

Neoplasm of the soft palate accounts for approximately 2% of head and neck mucosal malignancies. It is often easier to remove the entire tumor with surgery done completely through the mouth, in early stages. The causes of soft palate cancer it's a combination of genetic factors, environment and lifestyle conditions. The oropharynx cancer can present different symptoms: pain or difficulty with swallowing, hypernasal speech, dental numbness, trismus, malocclusion, otalgia (particularly on one side), bleeding from the mouth. Panendoscopy, flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy are the first investigations performed and to have a complete diagnostic, can be used CT, MRI scan, biopsy, etc. The treatment of early stages is surgery, radiation therapy, and in some cases lymph node dissection. In larger cancers, those that have spread to nearby lymph nodes in the neck, the treatment is made using a combination of radiation and chemo (chemoradiation). For minor salivary gland tumors of the palate, is preferred surgery in most cases. It's hard to reproduce its shape after any reconstruction of the soft palate with flaps and prosthetics, so in the best of circumstances, the function will be limited. The aim of the paper is to present the use of CO2 LASER surgery in the surgical approach to the soft palate cancer.