People with head and neck cancer find themselves voiceless or with difficulty speaking. For Lisa Licitra, associate professor, Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology of the University of Milan, “it is very important to be able to take advantage of the technology we have available today to provide tools that facilitate communication”. Among these tools, the app ” La Mia Voce “by Merck presented, in a completely updated version, at the Genoa Science Festival and downloadable for free from Google Play and Apple Store in different languages.” The neoplasms of the upper aero-digestive tracts arrive rather late in diagnosis – he explains Licitra – and this determines rather demanding treatments, surgical, radiation and even medical. The outcome of these treatments can produce alterations in the possibility of speech and, therefore, also the lack of voice “. In Italy, malignant tumors in the head district – neck represent about 3% of all malignant tumors. Approximately 13,000 new cases are diagnosed each year and most of them ( 7,300 cases) is observed in the male population.
