Meet Dr. Saral Mehra

Transcript

• 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.