Smilow Cancer Hospital’s Greenwich Hospital campus offers free head and neck cancer screenings

A five-minute check-up from the neck up

Greenwich, CT (April 17, 2017) – Smilow Cancer Hospital’s Greenwich Hospital campus will hold an oral, head and neck cancer screening on Friday, May 5 from 4:30 - 6:30 pm in the Noble Conference Center. The free five-minute check-up from the neck up is open to the public. To register, call 888-357-2409; walk-ins are welcome. Free parking is available.

More than 50,000 Americans each year are diagnosed with head and neck cancer, which can attack the nose, sinuses, mouth, ears, throat, larynx, thyroid, saliva glands and lymph nodes in the neck. “Cancers in the head and neck are curable if caught early,” said Richard Brauer, MD, chief of Otolaryngology at Greenwich Hospital. ”Screenings are a great way to get a quick, basic exam by a member of our head and neck cancer clinical care team.”

Dr. Brauer urges people who have a history of these symptoms to be screened:

• Family or personal history of smoking
• Sore throat that persists for more than six weeks
• Hoarseness lasting longer than three weeks
• Any mouth sore or swelling lasting longer than a week
• Lump in the neck lasting longer than a week
• Presence of blood in saliva or sputum
• Persistent ear pain

According to Dr. Brauer, tobacco use is the leading cause of mouth and voice box cancers, but the human papillomavirus (HPV) appears to be responsible for the national increase in cancers of the tonsils and tongue in younger nonsmokers, which is related to oral sex.

For more information about the Greenwich Hospital screening, call toll free 888-357-2409.

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org