Referral Notes:

  • State-of-the-art treatments for head and neck cancers can be difficult to access for patients in lower-income and marginalized communities.
  • NYU Langone’s new Head and Neck Center at Perlmutter Cancer Center—Sunset Park provides such care in a largely immigrant section of Brooklyn.
  • In a recent case, a patient with a 5.3 x 1.5 cm transglottic tumor underwent resection and TEP at the center after a prior misdiagnosis of status asthmaticus.
  • By performing complex procedures that many health systems reserve for their main campuses, the center optimizes outcomes for patients who face steep barriers to care.

For patients with head and neck cancers, outcomes are optimized when surgical treatment is delivered as part of a multidisciplinary team approach, from diagnosis through recovery and long-term follow-up. Yet such care can be difficult to access for patients in lower-income or otherwise marginalized communities, who must often travel long distances to reach the academic medical centers where it is typically offered.

An exception to this rule can be found at Perlmutter Cancer Center—Sunset Park, part of NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, and the first NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Brooklyn. Launched in 2022, the facility’s Head and Neck Center provides state-of-the-art care for head, neck, and thyroid tumors to a corner of New York City where it had previously been in short supply.

Located just two blocks from NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, the center brings together experts in the fields of head and neck surgery, radiation oncology, medical oncology, prosthodontics and dentistry, radiology, pathology and rehabilitation to develop and implement an integrated treatment plan for each patient.

“We’re able to perform complex procedures that many health systems reserve for their main campuses. That allows us to treat patients who aren’t willing or able to leave their community to find the right care.”

Lindsey E. Moses, MD

“We’re able to perform complex procedures that many health systems reserve for their main campuses,” says head and neck surgeon Lindsey E. Moses, MD, who leads the program. “That allows us to treat patients who aren’t willing or able to leave their community to find the right care.”

One Patient’s Saga

Many individuals treated by Dr. Moses and her team are immigrants whose life circumstances—ranging from limited command of English to economic challenges—make the prospect of traveling to Manhattan for medical care impractical.

For example, one middle-aged patient had previously been misdiagnosed with status asthmaticus in his home country. “He wound up in the ICU, and a laryngeal biopsy confirmed infiltrating keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma,” Dr. Moses says. “Yet he hadn’t been offered treatment for his cancer.” The man had then moved in with family members in Brooklyn. He was referred to the Head and Neck Center after being treated in the emergency department at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn for shortness of breath and excessive tracheal secretions.

CT neck imaging demonstrated a large transglottic mass invading the upper trachea, laryngeal cartilages, left hypopharynx, and paralaryngeal space, measuring up to 5.3 x 1.5 cm. In January 2024, the patient underwent total laryngectomy and thyroidectomy with bilateral and central neck dissections. He received tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) and a hands-free voice prosthesis, as well as cricopharyngeal myotomy to improve swallowing function. Surgical reconstruction was accomplished using anterolateral free flap.

“These patients need to be treated in a place they know and trust, where family and friends can visit easily. Now we can serve them where they are.”

After completing radiotherapy, the man was diagnosed as cancer-free. Today, Dr. Moses reports, “He’s doing really well. He can eat and drink normally, and the TEP has been a big factor in his postsurgical quality of life. He still sounds like himself—including his Caribbean accent.”

Providing Exceptional Services, Close to Home

Such success stories are made possible not only by the expertise and technological resources of the Head and Neck Center’s clinicians, but also by a team of speech-and-language therapists affiliated with NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation, ranked among the nation’s top five rehabilitation hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Another factor is patient access to NYU Langone’s broad range of clinical trials.

In addition, the center offers an array of support services to address nonmedical issues that may affect care outcomes. Case managers help patients arrange transportation for appointments and complete applications for disability, housing, or emergency Medicaid. Community health workers assist in navigating language and cultural barriers, check in on patients throughout treatment, and help convey information between patients and providers.

By situating all aspects of care for head and neck cancers in a single, convenient location, the center enables residents of a long-underserved community to benefit from the remarkable therapeutic advances that have emerged in recent years. “These patients need to be treated in a place they know and trust, where family and friends can visit easily,” Dr. Moses says. “Now we can serve them where they are.”