May 2015 – Oral Cancer News

Guest View: Stampede riders take stand against tobacco habits

Source: Prospect MagazineAuthor: Natalie RiggsSmokeless/spit tobacco is one of the historic causes of deadly oral cancers, and is more addictive than other forms of tobacco use. As a national nonprofit seeking to spread awareness of oral cancer and the dangers of starting terrible tobacco habits, the Oral Cancer Foundation has teamed up with professional barrel racer, Carly Twisselman, and bareback bronc rider, Cody Kiser, in an effort to spread the word in one of the biggest arenas of tobacco using patrons — the rodeo circuit. While others are focused on getting users to quit, the Oral Cancer Foundation is taking a proactive stance against tobacco by reaching out and educating youth about the dangers and risks of the habit. The message is simple and non confrontational: "Be Smart. Don't Start." With the strong addictive powers of smokeless tobacco, we have to engage them early. The Oral Cancer Foundation is a big believer that in order to solve problems, you have to become involved where the problem lies. The western/rodeo environment in the U.S. has had a long-term relationship with tobacco, and until 2009, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the rodeos that they sanctioned had a lengthy history of tobacco sponsorship money funding the sport. While that has ended at PRCA events, tobacco use, and smokeless/spit tobaccos still thrive in the sport. As a national nonprofit, OCF is taking a stance against tobacco with the help of both a cowboy and cowgirl who value their choice of not associating or [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-05-26T16:20:45-07:00May, 2015|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Imaging technique identifies early metastasis in lymph nodes

Source: www.newswise.com Author: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a highly sensitive and accurate imaging technique for non-invasive screening of lymph nodes for metastatic cancer. Current practice calls for invasive surgical biopsies to determine whether deadly metastatic cancer cells have invaded the lymph nodes. The new imaging technique – so far tested in mice – offers a rapid and effective tool to noninvasively identify very small numbers of these cells, known as micrometastases, thus detecting cancer’s spread at its earliest stages, which is critical for timely treatment. The work, developed at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is reported in the October issue of Cancer Research. The technique uses an imaging approach known as ultrasound-guided photoacoustics combined with nanosensors designed to target and identify metastatic cells in lymph nodes. Richard Conroy, Ph.D., Director of the NIBIB Program in Molecular Imaging elaborates on the technology’s potential: "This work is an excellent example of the development of a cutting edge technology that works very well in an experimental system but also has great potential to change the way we monitor and diagnose cancer metastasis. Identifying the accumulation of cells early in the process with some molecular characterization offers the opportunity for more targeted and effective treatment and fewer side effects.” More than 90% of cancer deaths can be attributed to metastases either directly or indirectly. In current clinical practice, an invasive surgical procedure called sentinel lymph node (SLN) [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-24T08:48:05-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Public speaker back to work after tongue cancer surgery

Source: www.komonews.com Author: Molly Shen Local doctors are seeing an alarming rise in the number of tongue cancer cases in people who never smoked or chewed tobacco. The Human Papillomavirus is a possible cause, but sometimes there's no viral or obvious reason. Robert Hasse was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2013. He writes a blog called "Not What You Had Planned." And he knows all about life going off schedule. A successful public speaker, he was sidelined by the news he had cancer and to save his life, he would lose half of his tongue. "I couldn't fathom not being able to speak," Haase said. "And that was a possibility if the nerve was cut incorrectly or if the doctor didn't do it right, I wouldn't ever be able to speak again." Doctors were able to rebuild Haase's tongue with tissue from his forearm. He was determined to speak, documenting his first attempt, two weeks later, two months later and most recently, 18 months after surgery. Dr. Stephen Bayles has done several hundred tongue reconstructive surgeries at Virginia Mason Medical Center. He says while patients lose most of the ability to taste food, he can restore movement, blood flow and some sensations like the ability to distinguish heat and cold. He said Haase's attitude was inspiring. "He came straight out of the operation with a thumbs up attitude and was already communicating to people how well he was doing and that he was already on his road to recovery," Dr. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-24T08:37:13-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Smoking rates are down, but a different type of tobacco use is on the rise

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com Author: Anna Almendrala First, the good news: Smoking rates are down significantly in 26 states. The bad news? The use of smokeless tobacco (also known as dip, snuff or chew) is up in four states, while using both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is up significantly in five states. “Although overall cigarette smoking prevalence has declined significantly in recent years in many states, the overall use of smokeless tobacco and concurrent cigarette and smokeless tobacco has remained unchanged in most states and increased in some states,” summed up researchers for the Centers for Disease Control, which published the data in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality report. From 2011 to 2013, four states showed increased smokeless tobacco use: Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina and West Virginia. Only two states -- Ohio and Tennessee -- exhibited decreases. In terms of total use, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia reported the lowest numbers of smokeless tobacco, at 1.5 percent, in 2013. In contrast, West Virginia reported the highest use, at 9.4 percent, with Wyoming and Montana coming in second and third, at 8.8 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Breaking down tobacco use by state helps health officials create more targeted state and local tobacco policies, explained CDC researcher Kimberly Nguyen in an email to HuffPost. "It’s important to note that the states with lower tobacco use prevalence typically have more robust tobacco control programs and greater adoption of evidence-based population level interventions," she wrote. The findings are significant because past research has [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-24T07:28:34-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Factors linked with better survival in oral cancer identified

Source: www.cancertherapyadvisor.com Author: staff Factors associated with improved survival in oral cavity squamous cell cancer (OCSCC) include neck dissection and treatment at academic or research institutions, according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. Alexander L. Luryi, from the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and colleagues analyzed correlations between treatment variables and survival in patients with stages I and II OCSCC. Data were included for 6,830 patients. The researchers found that five-year survival was 69.7 percent. Treatment factors that correlated with improved survival on univariate analysis included treatment at academic or research institutions, no radiation therapy, no chemotherapy, and negative margins (all P < 0.001). Improved survival was also seen in association with neck dissection (P = 0.001). Treatment at academic or research institutions correlated with increased likelihood of receiving neck dissection and decreased likelihood of receiving radiation therapy or having positive margins. Neck dissection and treatment at academic or research institutions correlated with improved survival on multivariate analysis (hazard ratios, 0.85 and 0.88, respectively), while compromised survival was seen for positive margins, insurance through Medicare, and adjuvant radiation therapy or chemotherapy (hazard ratios, 1.27, 1.45, 1.31, and 1.34, respectively). "Overall survival for early OCSCC varies with demographic and tumor characteristics but also varies with treatment and system factors, which may represent targets for improving outcomes in this disease," the authors write. Reference Luryi, Alexander L., BS, et al. "Treatment Factors Associated With Survival in Early-Stage Oral Cavity Cancer: Analysis of 6830 Cases [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-16T18:45:14-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

The Beginning of the End: Vaccine Prevention of HPV-Driven Cancers

Source: JNCI - Journal of the National Cancer Institute Anna R. Giuliano, Aimée R. Kreimer and Silvia de Sanjose + Author Affiliations Affiliations of authors: Center for Infection Research in Cancer, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL (ARG); Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD (ARK); Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme, Catalan Institute of Oncology, IDIBELL, Spain (SdS); CIBER Epidemiologia y Salut Pública, Barcelona, Spain (SdS). Correspondence to: Anna R. Giuliano, PhD, Professor and Director, Center for Infection Research in Cancer, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, MRC-CAN CONT, 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL 33612 (e-mail: [email protected]). In this issue of the Journal, Saraiya and coauthors present an important analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV) detection in tumors retrieved from select US sites prior to HPV vaccine implementation (2006) (1). Not only are these data necessary to evaluate future vaccine effectiveness in reducing cancers caused by HPV infection, but they will also aid in the growing assessment of the worldwide burden of tumors attributable to HPV infection. These data raise the question: How many cases of cancer can be prevented by HPV vaccination in the United States? Twenty years ago, in 1995, the World Health Organization recognized for the first time that HPV 16 is the cause of cervical cancer. In 2005, 10 years after this report, there was sufficient accumulated evidence to state that HPV 16 is also the cause of multiple cancers in men and women, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-11T13:33:23-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Second-line afatinib shows promise

Source: www.nature.com Author: David Killock Patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma and disease progression after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy have a dismal prognosis. There is no standard second-line therapy; however, afatinib, an irreversible inhibitor of HER family kinases, has shown efficacy in this setting. The LUX-Head & Neck 1 phase III trial randomly assigned patients to afatinib (n = 322) or methotrexate (n = 161) therapy. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 2.6 months with afatinib versus 1.7 months (P = 0.03). “The study was also powered to detect a difference in overall survival, which was not significantly improved,” explains lead author Jean-Pascal Machiels, “however, patient-reported outcomes were better with afatinib.” Afatinib was associated with delayed deterioration of global health status, less pain, and improved swallowing, potentially related to the prolonged PFS, compared with methotrexate. Furthermore, afatinib toxicity was manageable and deemed favourable to that of methotrexate. The patients were unselected for disease subtype, ~60% had received prior anti-EGFR antibody therapy, and 51% received further lines of treatment, possibly diluting the treatment effect of afatinib acheter levitra en ligne. Notably, patients with human papilloma virus (p16)-negative non-oropharyngeal cancer and local recurrence (rather than metastasis), who had not previously received an anti-EGFR antibody seemed to derive the most benefit in preplanned subgroup analyses. Machiels concludes, “Afatinib has some activity in head and neck cancer, but we need to better understand which patients will benefit from this therapy.” References Machiels, J.-P. H. et al. Afatinib versus methotrexate as second-line treatment [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-06T14:13:24-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

The case for extending the HPV vaccine is clear and urgent

Source: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk Author: Dr Shaun Griffin Last month the world marked Immunization Week, an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of routine life-saving immunizations and how they have transformed our approach to public health over the course of centuries. Close the Immunization Gap was this year's theme by the World Health Organisation. Progress towards global vaccination targets for 2015 is far off-track, according to the WHO one in five children still miss out on routine life-saving immunizations that could avert 1.5 million deaths each year from preventable diseases. The immunization gap also extends to gender, age and sexuality. A vaccination programme against the human papillomavirus (HPV) began in 2008 in the UK for girls aged 12-13 to reduce their risk of developing cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV. However, emerging research over the past eight years has found that cancers of the head, mouth, throat, penis and anus can also be caused by strains of the virus. The incidence rate of anal cancer in men who have sex with men (MSM) is increasing. Anal cancer incidence rates in MSM are equivalent to the rates that existed for cervical cancer in women before 1988, when the Government introduced the cervical cancer screening programme. Cancer Research UK (CRUK) estimated incidence rate of anal cancer is 78 per 100,000 per year in HIV-positive MSMs who are on HAART (anti-retroviral treatment), compared with 5 per 100,000 per year in HIV-negative MSMs. Around 5,500 men were diagnosed with oral, penile or anal cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-06T14:07:25-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Laser Treatment Halts Oral Mucositis in Its Tracks

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Fran Lowry Spa-like treatment with a cool, low-level laser, similar to that use for wrinkles, vanquishes oral mucositis, one of the most debilitating toxicities of cancer therapy. "I have been an oncology nurse for over 25 years, and in those 25 years, there has been nothing that helps prevent or is effective against the treatment for oral mucositis, until now," said Annette Quinn, RN, MSN, from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. "Patients say they rank it higher than nausea and vomiting when it comes to adverse side effects, especially because we have good medications to control nausea and vomiting. But the low-level laser works better than we could have hoped," Quinn told Medscape Medical News. She presented results from a pilot project at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 40th Annual Congress in Orlando, Florida. Oral mucositis affects virtually all head and neck cancer patients undergoing chemo and radiation therapy, and about 75% to 100% of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation with whole-body irradiation experience some degree of oral mucositis. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been used to treat oral mucositis for a decade in Europe and South America, but it has not made its way to the United States because there is no mechanism for reimbursement, Quinn reported. She hopes this study will change that. "Reimbursement is the main obstacle to its use in the United States, but for this study, I was able to secure the treatment [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-05-04T10:29:44-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|