Cancerbackup: If your cancer comes back

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If your head and neck cancer comes back

For many people with head and neck cancer, their cancer may be cured. However, for some people the cancer will come back some time after the initial treatment. If this happens, your doctor will explain the treatments available and what these are likely to achieve. In some cases it may be possible to remove the cancer. Radiotherapy may be given if it has not been used before. In other situations, chemotherapy may be offered to try to control the cancer for as long as possible.

Learning that your cancer has come back can feel devastating. Our information on coping with advanced cancer may be helpful. You could also contact the nurses in our cancer support service.


Content last reviewed: 01 November 2007
Page last modified: 14 January 2009

Get support

Look for other people in the same situation on our What Now? community - read their blogs or talk to them in our chat rooms.

Find out about other ways to get support on the main Macmillan website.

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