implant

Finding reconstructive solutions

Source: www.sydney.edu.au Author: George Dodd for Sydney Alumni Magazine They house the parts we need to see, hear, eat and breathe. Our heads and necks are machines for living but also subject to cancers that can destroy it all. New technology has changed all that. Nicola Salmond’s first thought was that the small ulcer inside her mouth was caused by her wisdom teeth. Her wisdom teeth were removed. The ulcer stayed. Then, a biopsy revealed that the ulcer was, in fact, a squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer. Specifically, a mouth cancer that is aggressive and can be life threatening. “People think they’re invincible, right?” says Salmond, a warm and straight-talking person, obviously still disquieted by the memory of the diagnosis. “I’ve never been fitter than I am now in my 40s. Yet there was this thing in my mouth. No symptoms at first, just this thing.” Professor Jonathan Clark in scrubs in front of a blue background, holding a 3D printed mouth piece Determined to stay in the lives of her three young daughters, Salmond joined in the search for a surgeon with the skills to help her. Professor Jonathan Clark (MBiostat ’12) came up early as one of the best in the field of head and neck surgery. Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2019, Professor Clark is one of a team of highly regarded surgeons at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Camperdown, which performs the highest volume of complex head and neck cancer surgery in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2023-08-08T06:36:32-07:00August, 2023|Oral Cancer News|

High purity zirconia improves speech valves

Source: www.onlinetmd.com Author: Elizabeth Engler Modic Morgan Technical Ceramics (MTC) worked with the UK-based University of Hull to develop a new valve used to restore vocal function for patients with throat cancer. The new tracheo-oesophageal fistula speech valve uses Zyranox biocompatible Yttria partially-stabilized Zirconia, specifically developed for surgical implant devices. The iterative design process for this innovative valve included a close collaboration, featuring consultation on materials, prototyping to test the design, and precision manufacturing to meet the extremely tight tolerances required. The patented new ceramic valve lasts at least eight times longer than traditionally used silicone valves, improving patient quality of life and decreasing overall healthcare costs. The device is to go to market via the spinout company Avoco Medical Ltd. Project Goals Avoco Medical was seeking to improve upon a commonly used speech restoration system for throat cancer patients, which uses a small silicone valve connecting the windpipe (trachea) and the throat (oesophagus). Air, powered by the lungs, diverts into the throat, which vibrates and results in fluent speech. Traditionally the valve is from silicone rubber, but the material exposure to hostile and non-sterile environments results in development of a biofilm on the surface. This biofilm causes valve performance to deteriorate, necessitating an uncomfortable and costly valve replacement procedure about every three months.[1] Precision Manufacturing The company was seeking a way to replace the silicone with ceramic, a more attractive material because of its stability, biocompatibility, and compliance. With its hard, impervious surface, ceramic is more resistant [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-04-03T09:21:12-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Implant-based cancer vaccine is first to eliminate tumors in mice

Source: news.biocompare.com Authors: David J. Mooney et al. A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors. The new paper describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma tumors in mice. "This work shows the power of applying engineering approaches to immunology," says David J. Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. "By marrying engineering and immunology through this collaboration with Glenn Dranoff at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we've taken a major step toward the design of effective cancer vaccines." Most cancer cells easily skirt the immune system, which operates by recognizing and attacking invaders from outside the body. The approach developed by Mooney's group redirects the immune system to target tumors, and appears both more effective and less cumbersome than other cancer vaccines currently in clinical trials. Conventional cancer vaccinations remove immune cells from the body, reprogram them to attack malignant tissues, and return them to the body. However, more than 90 percent of reinjected cells have died before having any effect in experiments. The slender implants developed by Mooney's group are 8.5 millimeters in diameter [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-01T15:36:50-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

IsoRay announces first head and neck cancer treated with Cesium-131

Source: www.businesswire.com Author: press release IsoRay, Inc. announced today that on June 4, 2009, Dr. Karen Pitman of the Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences and Dr. Michael Baird of the Radiation Oncology Department of the University of Mississippi Medical Center performed the world’s first head and neck permanent seed Cesium-131 implant. The implant was performed using Vicryl-embedded seeds in the tonsilar area in a patient who had locally failed IMRT external beam radiation and chemotherapy. Drs. Pitman and Baird chose Cesium-131 for this implant based on its high energy (30.4 kev) and short half-life (9.7 days). This combination allowed them to achieve a high dose of radiation to the recurrent disease, while limiting the dose to the previously heavily irradiated tissues of the neck. Cesium’s short half-life reduced the duration of side effects and the need for radiation protection. Dr. Baird stated, “Although too early to determine the overall efficacy of treatment, the patient’s tolerance to the implant has been good. His acute reactions peaked at three weeks, and have resolved by six weeks. His clinical reaction in the implant volume corresponds well to the post implant dosimetry.” Until now clinical experience with Cesium-131 has been focused on prostate cancer and ocular melanoma. However, Cesium-131 has been cleared by the FDA for use in the treatment of malignant disease (e.g., prostate, ocular melanoma, head and neck, lung, brain, breast, etc.) and may be used in surface, interstitial, and intracavitary applications for tumors with known radiosensitivity. Dwight Babcock, IsoRay's CEO, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-07-29T19:45:29-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|