Tumors of the Head and Neck

Pediatric head and neck malignancies account for approximately 10% of all pediatric cancers. In children, the most common head and neck neoplasms are malignant lymphomas, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, teratoma(s), and thyroid carcinoma. It is important to stress that clinicians should be aware of the differential diagnoses of head and neck masses, as treatment modalities will be different for each case. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are selected and combined, depending on the type of tumor and the clinical disease stage. When designing the treatment strategy, discussion and collaboration with a team of experienced pediatric oncology surgeons and subspecialists is important. The characteristics and treatments associated with each prominent head and neck malignancy are described below. Furthermore, in addition to head and neck malignant tumors, pediatric surgeons will often encounter tumors of this region in newborns, such as hemangioma or teratoma. These benign tumors are also described in this chapter.