Head and neck

Within the specialty of head and neck surgery, both benign and malignant tumours are operated on in the head and neck area.

There are many diverse conditions of the neck and head. The conditions are often quite bothersome, but fortunately, not serious. Sometimes, there is a more serious underlying disease.

The most common conditions include:

General examinations, such as a CT scan, PET scan or NMR are possible, but sometimes specific examinations are needed to detect a tumour in the head or neck area, such as an endoscopy with biopsy under general anaesthesia.

The treatment usually consists of a surgical procedure which, in the case of malignant tumours, may or may not be combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Multidisciplinary team

Maximum cooperation with oncologists, radiologists and radiotherapists if applicable. The service therefore offers the most modern treatments in which the quality of care and patient satisfaction are always paramount.

After oncological treatment, rehabilitative follow-up follows if necessary, calling on specialised speech therapists (as in the DYSF2 project), nurses and so on.

E17 Hospital Network

The ENT physicians of the E17 Hospital Network join forces around Head and Neck Oncology. A pooling of knowledge, expertise and experience is required to guarantee high-quality care to every patient.

In practice, the cooperation means that patients are treated as much as possible in the familiar network by a specialised and multidisciplinary team. If the pathology requires it, the patient is referred to the St Lucas Reference Centre. As part of this joining of forces, a collaboration has been entered into with Dr Christophe Vanclooster. He will consult and operate at Maria Middelares General Hospital, forming a tandem with Dr Laurence De Coster.

The patient will be followed up afterwards by the referring physician.

Dr De Coster Laurence

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Dr Vanclooster Christophe

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