detection – Oral Cancer News

Brush biopsy enables early detection of oral cancer without surgery

Source: today.uic.edu Author: staff A new test invented by University of Illinois Chicago researchers allows dentists to screen for the most common form of oral cancer with a simple and familiar tool: the brush. The cancer detection kit developed by UIC dentists requires less than a minute of gentle brushing to collect a sample. (Photo by Lucia Adami) The diagnostic kit, created and patented by Guy Adami and Dr. Joel Schwartz of the UIC College of Dentistry, uses a small brush to collect cells from potentially cancerous lesions inside the mouth. The sample is then analyzed for genetic signals of oral squamous cell carcinoma, the ninth most prevalent cancer globally. The cancer detection kit developed by UIC dentists requires less than a minute of gentle brushing to collect a sample. (Photo by Lucia Adami) This new screening method, which is currently seeking commercialization partnerships, improves upon the current diagnostic standard of surgical biopsies — an extra referral step that risks losing patients who sometimes don’t return until the cancer progresses to more advanced, hard-to-treat stages. “So many patients get lost; they don’t follow up,” said Adami, associate professor of oral medicine and diagnostic sciences. “We’ve tried to keep our focus mainly on early Stage 1 and 2 cancers, so it actually works with the cancers that you want to detect.” The detection system works by looking for small segments of genetic material called microRNA that regulate the expression of genes. Research conducted by Adami and Schwartz found an [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2024-01-17T12:33:56-07:00January, 2024|Oral Cancer News|

Viome scores FDA breakthrough label for cancer-screening, microbiome-sequencing AI platform

Source: www.fiercebiotech.com Author: Andrea Park The secret to enabling early cancer detection could be hidden in the microbiome, and, now, gut-testing startup Viome has the backing of the FDA to prove it. Viome was initially launched as a direct-to-consumer service that used an artificial intelligence-powered platform to sequence the RNA in an individual’s stool sample to produce insights into their overall health and provide accompanying diet and lifestyle recommendations. More recently, however, the startup has set its sights on using the technology to screen for cancer. In a study published last August, Viome researchers used the platform to analyze saliva samples from oral cancer patients and discovered biomarkers in the resulting analysis that were directly linked to cancer signatures. The diagnostic was able to spot early signs of oral cancer with a sensitivity of about 83%—and over 93% for stage 1 cancers—and a specificity of nearly 98%. As a result of that and other ongoing research, Viome’s saliva test has received the FDA’s breakthrough device designation for use in early screening for oral squamous cell carcinoma and oropharyngeal cancer, both of which are typically only diagnosed in a manual examination and are therefore often overlooked until their later stages. “Today’s standard of care to detect oral and throat cancer is severely outdated. Everyone relies on a primary care clinician to examine their mouths and look for lesions. This subjective and qualitative approach is a key reason why oral and throat cancer are detected at stage three or four, when many [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-07-13T06:40:29-07:00July, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer and COVID-19

Source: dentistry.co.uk Author: Seb Evans The Dental Defence Society explain how COVID-19 has impacted the detection of oral cancer and what dental teams should do to improve outcomes. Referrals for oral cancer have fallen dramatically since the start of the pandemic. This is raising fears that many cases have gone undiagnosed because of disruption to routine dental care. Missed opportunities for early detection mean it is likely that thousands of patients will eventually present with late-stage disease and poor prognosis. They will also require aggressive and complex treatments that diminish their quality of life. As well as adding to the burden on the healthcare system. Now more than ever, dental teams must prioritise the prevention, early detection and rapid referral of oral cancer. They will play a vital role in mitigating the ongoing impact of the pandemic on outcomes for this cancer through performing examinations at every opportunity, recognising when a patient presents with signs and symptoms, and raising awareness. Increasing burden of oral cancer in the UK The most recent figures on mouth cancer in the UK align with the global trend. They shows an alarming rise in incidence and mortality. The State of Mouth Cancer UK Report 2020/21 reports that last year 8,722 people were diagnosed with mouth cancer. And an estimated 2,702 people died from the disease. That’s up 58% and 48%, respectively, from a decade ago. Early detection and rapid referral for treatment makes a huge difference for patients with oral cancer. It boosts survival from [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-11-21T09:53:43-07:00November, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Machine learning is giving cancer detection new bionic eyes

Source: www.eetimes.com Author: Adam Benzion It’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) — or, as my nerdier friends call it, “the outcome of really good machine learning (ML)” — is changing the way we live; the way we shop, eat, sleep is all monitored and enhanced by AI, and now the medical industry is tapping into the capabilities of AI. Entrepreneurs, hackers, and engineers have discovered new ways to infuse off-the-shelf hardware with ML tools to deliver highly specialized and expensive medical diagnostics in a field that is known for costly equipment and high barriers to entry. Welcome to the new era of AI-powered medical care. Until recently, standard skin cancer lesion screening methods such as radiological imaging (x-rays) could miss the early signs of cancer in approximately 25% of cases, according to research published in the British Journal of General Practice. And in places where there is no access to expensive medical equipment, patients and doctors rely on experience and the naked human eye to perform early-stage cancer diagnosis. Not only does this present a non-standard level of diagnostics, but it also draws attention to the soft belly of medical care — only those who can afford quality treatment will get it. Either way, we are finding that there’s a need for other detection modalities that we’ve never tried before, breaking from traditional methods, and offering the same, top-quality early detection and diagnostics of cancer to everyone equally. Medical care meets computer science Meet Mohammed Zubair, associate professor at [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-02-17T11:39:46-07:00February, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Deciphering molecular intelligence for early oral cancer detection

Source: www.openaccessgovernment.org Author: Muy-Teck Teh, Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London Muy-Teck Teh, Senior Lecturer from Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London discusses how a novel low-cost rapid digital diagnostic test could help save lives and reduce head and neck cancer burden worldwide: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogenous group of diseases involving malignancies of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses and salivary glands. It is the sixth most common cancer, with an incidence of around 600,000 cases worldwide. These numbers are expected to double by 2035, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite advances in treatment options for oral cancer (mostly oral squamous cell carcinoma, OSCC), the 5-year survival rate (~50%) has not improved over the last half century, mainly because many malignancies are not diagnosed until late stages of the disease. Published data showed that over 70% of OSCC patients have some form of pre-existing oral premalignant disorder (OPMD) lesions amenable to early diagnosis and risk stratification. Hence, the potential to reduce the morbidity and mortality of OSCC through early detection is of critical importance. Century old diagnostic method needs upgrading OPMDs are very common but clinicians are unable to differentiate between high- and low-risk OPMDs through histopathological gold standard method based on subjective opinion provided by pathologists. As there is currently no quantitative method to detect high-risk lesions, most OPMD patients are indiscriminately put on time consuming, costly and stressful [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-11-15T09:08:56-07:00November, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

A deep learning algorithm for detection of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma from photographic images: a retrospective study

Source: www.thelancet.com Authors: Qiuyun Fu et al. Abstract Background: The overall prognosis of oral cancer remains poor because over half of patients are diagnosed at advanced-stages. Previously reported screening and earlier detection methods for oral cancer still largely rely on health workers’ clinical experience and as yet there is no established method. We aimed to develop a rapid, non-invasive, cost-effective, and easy-to-use deep learning approach for identifying oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) patients using photographic images. Methods: We developed an automated deep learning algorithm using cascaded convolutional neural networks to detect OCSCC from photographic images. We included all biopsy-proven OCSCC photographs and normal controls of 44,409 clinical images collected from 11 hospitals around China between April 12, 2006, and Nov 25, 2019. We trained the algorithm on a randomly selected part of this dataset (development dataset) and used the rest for testing (internal validation dataset). Additionally, we curated an external validation dataset comprising clinical photographs from six representative journals in the field of dentistry and oral surgery. We also compared the performance of the algorithm with that of seven oral cancer specialists on a clinical validation dataset. We used the pathological reports as gold standard for OCSCC identification. We evaluated the algorithm performance on the internal, external, and clinical validation datasets by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity with two-sided 95% CIs. Findings: 1469 intraoral photographic images were used to validate our approach. The deep learning algorithm achieved an AUC of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-09-24T13:41:39-07:00September, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Late stage head and neck cancer in the U.S. sees increasing incidence

Source: www.cancernetwork.com Author: Hannah Slater A study released in Cancer indicates that there is an increasing incidence of late stage head and neck cancer (HNC) in the U.S., mostly due to an increasing incidence of oropharyngeal cancer, most likely due to HPV-related disease in patients diagnosed at stage IVC.1 Blacks, males, those who are underinsured or uninsured, and those who are unmarried tend to fare worse than others. The presented research highlights the need for continuous public health efforts toward the early detection of HNC. In this cohort of 57,118 patients with stage IV HNC, the age-adjusted rates for stage IV HNC significantly increased by 26.1% (6.11 per 100,000 person-years in 2004 to 7.70 per 100,000 person-years in 2015). Despite a decreasing overall incidence of stage IV HNC in black patients (adjusted OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.22-1.34), they along with males (adjusted OR, 3.95; 95% CI, 3.80-4.11) had significantly increased risks of being diagnosed with late-stage HNC. “In the absence of a mortality benefit for asymptomatic mass screenings, as per the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force oral cancer screening guideline, it is critical that there is sustained public awareness and education regarding the early detection of HNC, and prevention through cancer risk mitigation practices,” the researchers wrote. Although black males had the highest risk of being diagnosed, the most significant change in annual incidence patterns was driven by white males (annual percent changes, 3.13; P 50 years, with males [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2019-11-27T06:35:45-07:00November, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month: Self-exams, early detection can save lives

Source: www.prnewswire.com Author: press release Because early detection of oral cancer offers a greater chance of a cure, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) is reminding the public during Oral Cancer Awareness Month of the importance of performing monthly self-exams. AAOMS promotes self-exams and screenings every April with the Oral Cancer Foundation, which predicts about 53,000 new cases of oral cancer will be diagnosed in 2019 in the United States – leading to more than 9,000 deaths. "A monthly self-exam takes only minutes and could potentially save your life," said AAOMS President A. Thomas Indresano, DMD, FACS. "If done on a regular basis, you're increasing the chances of identifying changes or new growths early. The survival rate for oral cancer is between 80 and 90 percent when it's found at early stages of development." Oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) encourage a six-step oral cancer self-exam that involves looking and feeling inside the mouth for suspicious sores and feeling the jaw and neck for lumps. Using a bright light and a mirror: First remove any dentures. Look and feel inside the lips and the front of the gums. Tilt the head back to inspect and feel the roof of the mouth. Pull the cheek out to inspect it and the gums in the back. Pull out the tongue and look at its top and bottom. Feel for lumps or enlarged lymph nodes in both sides of the neck, including under the lower jaws. Oral cancer symptoms may include [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2019-04-06T06:46:42-07:00April, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

New guidelines from NCCN help people with mouth cancers understand treatment options

Source: www.heraldmailmedia.com Author: press release The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® ( NCCN ®) has published the first of three guidelines for patients with head and neck cancers, focused on oral cavity (mouth and lip) cancers. The guidebook offers treatment explanations based on the recommendations from the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology ( NCCN Guidelines ®) used by clinicians, put into plain language with accompanying glossary and background. This free online resource is also available in print through Amazon.com for a nominal fee. The publication was made possible thanks to funding through the NCCN Foundation ®, and sponsorship from the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance ( HNCA ) and Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer ( SPOHNC ). "These guidelines will help to decrease the anxieties associated with a cancer diagnosis," explained Mary Ann Caputo, Executive Director, SPOHNC. "You will learn and empower yourself with the necessary knowledge of the disease and its treatment. These tools will enable one to go forward with a strong conviction of moving on and living a full life." "When I was first diagnosed, I was surprised, overwhelmed and scared. I was completely focused on the treatment for my cancer, and so initially I was less aware of all the information shared with me during my medical appointments about my particular diagnosis," said Jason Mendelsohn, HNCA Board Member and Survivor. "These guidelines are a great resource that patients, their caregivers, and families can read when they're ready and able to focus [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-11-20T08:22:40-07:00November, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Head and neck cancer is more common than you think

Source: www.irishtimes.com Author: Jamie Ball Well over 1,000 people in Ireland are diagnosed each year with cancers of the head and neck, with almost three-quarters of cases being attributed to smoking and alcohol. Yet this pernicious form of cancer very often goes under-reported, or sufficient heed isn’t paid to the warning signs that, if caught early, may be the difference between life and death. This is why July 27th will mark the third World Head & Neck Cancer day, taking place across 53 countries. The 2017 National Cancer Strategy highlights the importance of prevention, detection and diagnosis, and education and awareness is key for early recognition of the disease. According to James Paul O’Neill, Prof of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, there can be many different types of cancers within the head and neck, each with their own tissue characteristics and biological behaviour. “Cancers may develop in several areas of this region, including the mouth, throat, larynx (voice box), glandular tissue (thyroid), salivary tissue (parotid gland), lymphatic tissue, nose, sinuses and skin. Patients have a large variety of symptoms and signs according to the subsite of the disease,” says O’Neill. He says surgery incorporates many different techniques and skills, as the region has essential functional roles, such as talking, breathing, smelling, hearing, chewing and swallowing. “We are now in the age of highly-specialised technological innovations. There is a drive towards minimally invasive surgery because we can perform the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2017-07-25T08:28:00-07:00July, 2017|Oral Cancer News|