tongue cancer perineural invasion

Hello dub,

Thanks for getting in touch. My name is Megan, I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurses on the Macmillan Support Line.

Welcome to the online community. I can see you are yet to join any forums. You might be interested in joining our head and neck cancer forum where support from others with shared experience is offered.

I hope your partner is recovering well from his surgery. Making treatment decisions can be a difficult process and I would encourage your partner to speak further with the hospital team so that he has all the information he needs to make his decision with confidence.

If you haven’t already, I would recommend meeting with a radiation oncologist to discuss the benefits, risks and side effects of additional radiotherapy treatment.

Sometimes it can also help to speak with others who had a similar choice to make, and you may be able to do this through the forum mentioned above, or by speaking with the hospital team and asking them to introduce you to another patient who had a similar diagnosis and treatment plan. This is often referred to as peer support.

I am glad to hear that the surgical margins and lymph nodes were all clear. Perineural invasion (PNI) is the invasion of cancer to the space surrounding a nerve and is detected under the microscope. It cannot be detected by scans.

It sounds as though his doctors have said that although the surgical margins where clear the laboratory results of the tumour showed perineural invasion. The detection of perineural invasion can be a predictor of an increased risk of recurrence of disease.

However, as we do not have access to healthcare records I would still strongly encourage as mentioned previously to speak with a radiation oncologist to clarify what added benefit radiotherapy will give for your partner specifically. Our questions to ask your healthcare team may be useful in preparation for this.

Also, it can be helpful to discuss things with us in more detail over the phone and you would be most welcome to contact us.

I hope this information is useful. Please don’t hesitate to get back in contact by email, webchat or phone, if you need further information or support.

The Macmillan Support Line offers practical, clinical, financial and emotional support. You can call us free from landlines and from most mobile phone networks on 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm.

Best wishes, Megan

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

Ref MD/Khe