Has anyone had experience with luekaplakia post-treatment?

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sunshine_65
sunshine_65 Member Posts: 21 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Just returned from a regular checkup where I showed my oncologist some disturbing white patches underneath my tongue.

He said that it is likely to be luekaplakia, and that I should wait and see if it goes away, and, if not, I will need to see the cancer surgeon to get

it removed, as it is potentially pre-cancerous. It is painful right now, and I am not able to figure out if this is a common side-effect of cancer or sign of

a recurrence. I had t1n2cmo, tonsil cancer, mestatasized to both lymph glands, stage 4 advanced, with 8 weeks radiation and 9 weeks chemo (erbitux). I

am 30 months out from treatment with few side effects, other than fibrosis (and some pain) in neck and hypothyroidism. Has anyone else had these patches?

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  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #2
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    Hi Sunshine

    I had a lot of this white stuff allover my mouth and some patches of it here and there but it turned out to be nothing more then just a fungus. Doc put me on some antifungal meds and it went away, so hoping it’s the same for you. I believe that is the reason your doctor wants to wait and see if it will just go away by itself.

     

    Tim Hondo

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #3
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    the term leukoplakia

    simply means  "white patch".   It means nothing else.  If you look up leukoplakia in an appropriate textbook, say, of oral pathology, you will come up with a bewildering list of possibles.  A leukoplakia can be just from irritating an area inside the mouth because of chewing without adequat saliva.  It can be a pailloma.  If it is a papilloma it can be precancerous, or not precancerous.    So I'd say you weren't given a really adequate answer by the med onc guy.  The experts at this are going to be your ENT oncologists.  If this lesion has been there for awhile I'd probably go see him just for peace of mind.  

     

    best to you

  • sunshine_65
    sunshine_65 Member Posts: 21 Member
    #4
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    Thanks--I really appreciate your responses!

    Thanks Tim Hondo and Longtermsurivor---

    I am sure you're both right on all counts--my "white patches" are shrinking and I think it's probably nothing

    more than trouble from my recent dehydrating plane ride & struggle with dry mouth. I will have it checked

    out though because this is the second appearance of these odd little patches (and they hurt!)

    This network is the best, truly reassurring to hear others have had this.

    Sunshine_65 (well, now I am 66 and counting!)

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