The recent news that Michael Douglas has been diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer has raised public awareness of head and neck cancer. What causes throat cancer and what are the symptoms? Are there ways to prevent or reduce the risk of throat cancer? How is the human papillomavirus (HPV) related to oral cancer?

On Thursday, Sept.16, at 5 pm ET, join Dr. Robert Haddad, clinical director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, for a half-hour live Twitter chat to explore these and other issues.

People will need a Twitter account to be able to ask a question or make a comment. Twitter is free and an account can be created by going to http://twitter.com. However, a Twitter account is not needed for those who want to only follow the exchange between Dr. Haddad and others.

At the event’s start time, go to search.twitter.com and type in the hashtag #hnchat. It will be possible to see a discussion thread of all tweets with that hashtag. As the event progresses, the thread will update automatically. People posting questions must include the hastag #hnchat so that it shows up in the conversation.

During the live Twitter chats, Dana-Farber will not be able to answer questions about specific diagnoses or treatments. Participants are asked to discuss questions about their medical conditions, treatment options, or medications with their doctors.

Please note that all comments during the live Twitter chat are publicly available and accessible on the Internet. Chat participants are reminded to always consider how much personal information to share, with the understanding that this information may be linked to a person’s user name and published on the Internet.

For more information on the Dana-Farber head and neck cancers’ Twitter chat, go to http://www.dana-farber.org/abo/social-networking/live-twitter-chat.html.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (http://www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. It provides adult cancer care with Brigham and Women’s Hospital as Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and it provides pediatric care with Children’s Hospital Boston as Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center. Dana-Farber is the top ranked cancer center in New England, according to U.S. News & World Report, and one of the largest recipients among independent hospitals of National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health grant funding.

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Source:  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute