- When you are diagnosed with a cancer
or you've been through a cancer,
providers or friends may say,
"Well you should just be thankful
"that you made it through this."
And, I disagree with that.
I think that you should only be happy
when you feel that you've gone far enough
to be the best version of yourself.
Penn Medicine ENT is not only going
to deal with your cancer,
but we're going to deal
with the consequences
of dealing with the cancer.
- So I think we're going to have to come
pretty close to the midline
on the top of the cranium.
- Head and neck cancer can arise
in the tongue, jawbone, on the skin
of the head and neck.
So very visible areas that anyone
can see when you're out in the street.
I think it's very important being able
to repair and reconstruct defects
that might occur when people
are treated for cancer.
- We think about reconstruction
as restoration of the quality of life.
We want patients to be able
to walk around in public
and feel like they're normal.
What makes Penn stand out more
than other centers is that we have
six of us that actually do reconstruction.
- Both within the department, but even
outside the department,
this multidisciplinary
team that we have includes oncologists
and radiation doctors and pathologists.
It's just a very deep team.
- I like the fact that our mid-segment
is three centimeters,
it's not a small segment.
- We're always pushing the boundries,
thinking about problems
in a more challenging way,
thinking about minimal access incisions.
- What we have at our disposal
is truly cutting edge.
We're using growth factors
to help us regenerate tissues.
We're using biological substitutes
that are much more robust
than the person's own tissues.
We're incorporating technology
where we're able to 3D print
and we're able to
simulate someone's surgery
before they even have it,
which is extremely, extremely exciting.
- We don't feel like we've
accomplished anything
just by taking out a cancer
and doing an average reconstruction.
That, to us, is not a job well done.
A job well done is when no one realizes
they've actually had major
head and neck cancer surgery.
- In medicine you get a lot of rewards
and a lot of satisfaction.
Sometimes it's seeing how
the surgery turned out
and how the incision heals
and how the reconstruction looks
and how the cancer is cured.
But I have to tell ya,
I think the best part
is seeing people return to their norm.
(upbeat music)
