Can head and neck tumors in infants and children be observed? A: Head and neck tumors in adults are divided into benign and malignant, and head and neck tumors in infants and children are also divided into benign and malignant. Since many children are relatively young and often cannot express their discomfort, which can easily delay the diagnosis, parents play a very important role in the early detection of diseases in children. When parents touch a lump on a child’s body, or when there is an abnormal appearance, they should visit the hospital for early diagnosis to avoid delaying the best treatment. Most head and neck tumors in infants and children should be treated with early surgery, while some tumors can be temporarily chosen for observation, such as neuroblastoma and hemangioma. Most neuroblastomas in children are in the low-risk group and can be chosen for temporary observation. Some children can subside on their own, but they should be reviewed regularly at the hospital. About 80% of childhood hemangiomas have a tendency to heal on their own, but two things should be noted: the location and the tendency to grow significantly. For hemangioma growing in the laryngeal trachea, early intervention is recommended because the tumor will affect breathing; for hemangioma with obvious tendency to grow, natural regression is less likely and the larger the tumor is, the more difficult it is to treat, so early intervention is also recommended. Which head and neck tumors in infants and children should be treated surgically? A: Most of the head and neck tumors in infants and children should be treated with early surgery. For example, hemangiomas growing in important areas, thyroglossal cysts, malignant tumors of thyroid gland, and gill slit cysts need surgical treatment. Remnants of rhabdomyosarcoma after radiotherapy and remnants of lymphoma after chemotherapy also need to be removed surgically. Will the surgery leave scars? A: Whether or not scarring will occur is related to the type of treatment. In the case of vascular tumors, if the treatment is a drug such as Pingyangmycin injection, naturally no scar will be left. For some tumors growing in the throat and mouth, lumpectomy through the natural cavity will not leave scars on the surface of the body. For most other tumors, open surgery through the body surface is usually required and scarring is inevitable. However, after years of experience in pediatric surgery, I have concluded that scars can be made less visible to a certain extent by using the neck skin pattern to make an incision and closing the incision with an intradermal suture. After surgery, I also choose some scar removal scar patches according to the healing of the child’s skin, which can lighten the scar after pediatric surgery. Will the surgery affect my child’s intelligence? A: The surgery itself has no effect on the child’s intelligence. What may have an effect is the dosage and duration of anesthesia. Therefore, it is important to choose a comprehensive children’s hospital with rich experience in the treatment of infants and children for surgery, and the hospital should be equipped with professional and experienced pediatric anesthesiologists. Children are very young and will be scared when they enter the hospital, not to mention that they will not be able to cooperate well with the doctor during the operation because they are not accompanied by their family members, so almost all operations require general anesthesia. Many parents are concerned that general anesthesia will have a negative impact on their child’s brain, such as affecting intelligence and memory. In a professional and experienced children’s hospital, this concern is not necessary. It is a colorless, transparent, fragrant, non-irritating, volatile liquid that is easily accepted by children and does not require injections. There is very little re-sleeping after the child wakes up, and there is little effect on cerebral blood flow and brain supply. In general, the anesthetic used is excreted from the body within 24-48 hours. There is no evidence to suggest that general anesthesia affects the memory or intelligence of the child. To ensure safety, it is also important to choose the right hospital. Can the surgery be curative? A: The vast majority of benign tumors can be cured, but only if the diagnosis is clear. Some benign tumors, such as thyroglossal cyst, gill slit cyst, hemangioma, lymphangioleioma, etc., are generally rarely recurring as long as they are surgically removed cleanly. If the diagnosis is not clear and the mass is simply removed surgically without removing the diseased tissue cleanly, it is very easy to recur. If the diagnosis is clear and the surgery is performed by an experienced surgeon, the recurrence rate after surgery will be very low. There are also some tumors which are clearly diagnosed and cleanly removed in the first surgery, but there is still a risk of recurrence after surgery, which may be related to the characteristics of some tumors, such as cervical fibromatosis, which is benign but the recurrence rate of the mass is as high as 50%-80%. The eradication rate of malignant tumors is certainly not comparable to benign tumors, but it is not incurable. The key is firstly, early, secondly, standardization, and thirdly, it is also related to the tumor type. Even for tumors with high malignancy, such as rhabdomyosarcoma, as long as they are detected early and receive timely standardized and comprehensive treatment, they can be cured.