Home drain removal is helping head and neck cancer patients spend more time at home and less at the hospital after surgery. Most open cancer surgeries at Ohio State require some type of drain, which in the past, would require hospital admission throughout the duration of the process. Thanks to a new protocol developed at The James, however, many patients can safely remove drains at home themselves, and have been doing so for more than a year. “The benefits of home drain removal are overwhelmingly positive,” Nolan Seim, MD, says. “There are cost savings and reductions in transportation, including the need for friends and family members to drive them to the facility. There are a lot of benefits.” Additionally, home drain removal allows patients to check out of the hospital more quickly after surgery, enabling them to spend more time at home. “For somebody that was going to stay in at the facility for three days for a drain, they might get out of hospital on day one,” Seim says. “We feel like that’s a big benefit and improvement in the quality of life for the post-operative care for our patients.” More about head and neck cancer Head and neck cancers are complex diseases. Each patient’s cancer is different, behaving differently in the bodies they’re in and calling for a tailored, individualized treatment plan for each patient. To deliver the most effective head and neck cancer detection and treatment, our internationally renowned experts identify and understand cancer at the biologic and genetic levels, unlocking the molecular code of a patient’s disease and pinpointing what makes each cancer grow — then discovering what stops it. Our team of head and neck cancer subspecialists spans a broad range of disciplines: from medical and radiation oncologists to head and neck surgeons, dentists, voice and swallowing specialists, molecular and biological pathologists, genetic scientists and more — all specializing in a specific type of head and neck cancer research, prevention, detection, treatment and cure. It’s that subspecialization and singular focus that enable us to discover, develop and deliver the most targeted therapies for each individual head and neck cancer patient And that means our collective expertise leads to improved outcomes, faster responses, fewer side effects and more hope for cancer patients everywhere. Learn more about head and neck cancer treatment at Ohio State.