Meet Dr. Saral Mehra
January 18, 2022Information
Surgical oncologist Dr. Saral Mehra discusses his care of patients with head and neck cancers and the team approach that is so important to care.
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- 00:00My name is Cyril Mara I'm the section chief
- 00:03of head and neck surgery and associate
- 00:06professor of surgery in otolaryngology.
- 00:09I treat cancers of the head and neck.
- 00:13That basically involves any cancer above the
- 00:16collar bones except cancers of the brain.
- 00:18The most common cancers I treat are
- 00:20cancers in the mouth, the throat,
- 00:23the salivary glands, and the thyroid.
- 00:25When I started medical school,
- 00:26I wasn't sure I wanted to be a surgeon,
- 00:30but during my clinical rotations in 3rd year,
- 00:32that's when I saw head and neck
- 00:34surgery and I thought it was the most
- 00:37fascinating part of the human body.
- 00:40And I really enjoyed the people I was
- 00:42working with, even as a medical student.
- 00:45And that just got me hooked.
- 00:47The people, the anatomy,
- 00:49the types of surgeries that were
- 00:51going on in that part of the body.
- 00:53I think what patients need to know
- 00:56about the treatment of head and neck
- 00:59cancer at Smilow Cancer Hospital
- 01:01and Yale is that it's a team sport.
- 01:03Surgical oncologists as a surgeon.
- 01:05You know one part of that team but
- 01:08we need radiation, oncologists,
- 01:10medical oncologists, pathologists,
- 01:11neuroradiologists, social workers,
- 01:13nurses,
- 01:13nurse practitioners and really a
- 01:16whole team to take care of patients
- 01:18with head and neck cancer.
- 01:20Head neck cancer affects so many
- 01:23parts of patients quality of life
- 01:25including speech swallowing their
- 01:27appearance and we really we really
- 01:30need to do a good job of balancing
- 01:32function and quality of life.
- 01:35With curing the cancer as an E
- 01:37NT head neck cancer surgeon,
- 01:39I'm often tasked with diagnosing
- 01:41patients with their cancer.
- 01:42I think it's important that patients
- 01:45bring with them some family members when
- 01:48they think there's a chance that they might.
- 01:51Be having that cancer discussion to help them
- 01:54absorb all the information I'm giving them.