pharynx – Oral Cancer News

Which cancers have increased over the past decade?

Source: www.mdlinx.com Author: Naveed Saleh, MD, MS, for MDLinx The incidence of cancers at the level of the oral cavity and pharynx increased between 2007 and 2016, according to a recent report by researchers from the CDC published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. This rise occurred despite respective decreases in the incidence of cancers at various anatomic sites. Cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx make up 3% of cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, with risk factors including tobacco use, HPV infection, and excessive alcohol intake. “The overall increase appears to be driven by increases in cancers of the tonsil, base of tongue, oropharynx, and other cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, which are HPV-associated, as well as by those of gum and anterior tongue,” wrote the authors. Breaking down the numbers On average, the incidence rates for cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx combined increased by 0.6% per year between 2007 and 2016, with specific increases as follows: Oral cavity and pharynx (3.4%) Base of tongue (1.8%) Anterior tongue (1.8%) Gum (1.9%) Tonsil (2.4%) Oropharynx (1.9%) For the following cancers, however, incidence rates decreased: Soft palate and uvula (−3.7%) Hard palate (−0.9%) Floor of mouth (−3.1%) Lip (−2.7%) Hypopharynx (−2.4%) Nasopharynx (−1.3%) Of note, the incidence of cheek and other mouth and salivary gland cancers remained unchanged.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-04-26T12:43:31-07:00April, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Study: Oropharyngeal cancer on the rise in young adults

Source: www.sciencecodex.com Author: staff A new study reveals an alarming increase in oropharyngeal cancers among young adults. While the exact cause for this phenomenon is unknown, the human papillomavirus (HPV) may be to blame. According to researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit there was an overall 60 percent increase from 1973 and 2009 in cancers of the base of tongue, tonsils, soft palate and pharynx in people younger than age 45. Among Caucasians, there was a 113 percent increase, while among African-Americans the rate of these cancers declined by 52 percent during that period of time. But compared to Caucasians and other races, the five-year survival rate remains worse for African Americans. The study is published online ahead of print in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. "The growing incidence in oropharyngeal cancer has been largely attributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, which led to an increased transmission of high-risk HPV," says study lead author Farzan Siddiqui, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Head & Neck Radiation Therapy Program in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital. "We were interested in looking at people born during that time period and incidence of oropharyngeal cancer. Not only were we surprised to find a substantial increase in young adults with cancer of the tonsils and base of tongue, but also a wide deviation among Caucasians and African Americans with this cancer." The American Cancer Society estimates about [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-01-31T09:22:10-07:00January, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Global trends in oral cancers

Source: www.dailyrx.com Author: staff It used to be that smoking and drinking alcohol were the biggest risk factors for cancers that develop in the mouth and throat. Those trends may be changing, according to a new study. That new study uncovered that cancers that appear in the throat right behind the mouth have increased, primarily in developed countries. The trend has been most prevalent in men under the age of 60, the researchers found. These increases, the authors suggested, may be linked to human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that’s associated with a number of cancers, including oral cancers. Anil K. Chaturvedi, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, led this study that examined incidence trends for oropharyngeal (part of the throat behind the mouth) and oral cavity (mouth) cancers in 23 countries across four continents. The researchers examined the countries’ cancer registry data for the years 1983 to 2002. In the study’s introduction, the authors noted that oral cavity cancers (OCC) have declined recently in most parts of the world due to the declines in tobacco use. At the same time, oropharyngeal cancers (OPC) have risen over the past 20 years in some countries. OPC rates were compared to those of OCC and lung cancers to distinguish the potential role of HPV from smoking-related cancer trends. The researchers tracked specific OPC sites, including base of the tongue, tonsils, oropharynx and pharynx (throat). OCC sites included the tongue, gums, floor of the mouth, palate (roof of the mouth) and other [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-11-19T14:42:18-07:00November, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas: ‘Throat cancer’ was really tongue cancer

Source: cnn.com Author: Jen Christensen, CNN Michael Douglas never had throat cancer, as he told the press in 2010. The actor now says he had tongue cancer. Douglas said he hid the diagnosis at the urging of his doctor to protect his career. "The surgeon said, 'Let's just say it's throat cancer,' " Douglas told fellow actor Samuel L. Jackson for a segment that ran on British television as a part of Male Cancer Awareness Week. Douglas says that the doctor told him if they had to do surgery for tongue cancer, "it's not going to be pretty. You could lose part of your tongue and jaw." When Douglas first talked about his cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2010, he was on a worldwide publicity tour for the movie "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Douglas and Jackson joked that could have been the end of his acting career. Douglas said if he had surgery he could see the director saying, "What's your good side? I've got no side over here." "There really is no such thing as throat cancer per se," explained Brian Hill, an oral cancer survivor and the founder of the Oral Cancer Foundation. Douglas has taped a public service announcement to raise awareness about oral cancer for Hill's foundation. "Throat" cancer and tongue cancer are both colloquial terms that fall under the oral cancer umbrella. Throat cancer usually refers to cancerous tumors that develop in your pharynx, voice box or tonsils. Tongue cancer refers to cancerous [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-10-15T07:17:01-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Study: Cruciferous vegetables help prevent oral cancer

Soucre: Dr.Biscuspid.com October 1, 2012 -- Eating cruciferous vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of developing several cancers, including oral, esophageal, colorectal, breast, and kidney cancer, according to a study in the Annals of Oncology (August 2012, Vol. 23:8, pp. 2198-2203). Epidemiological studies have shown that eating cruciferous vegetables -- which include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, and bok choy -- is associated with reduced risk for a number of cancers, the study authors noted. The Italian researchers conducted a meta-analysis of data from multiple case-control studies done in Italy and Switzerland to examine the association between consumption of cruciferous vegetables and risk of multiple cancers. The analysis included 1,468 cancers of the oral cavity/pharynx, 505 of the esophagus, 230 of the stomach, 2,390 of the colorectum, 185 of the liver, 326 of the pancreas, 852 of the larynx, 3,034 of the breast, 367 of the endometrium, 1,031 of the ovary, 1,294 of the prostate, and 767 of the kidney, along with 1,492 control patients. Compared to men and women who ate no cruciferous vegetables, those who ate such vegetables at least once a week cut their risk of cancer of the oral cavity/pharynx by 17%, esophageal cancer by 28%, colorectal cancer by 17%, breast cancer by 17%, and kidney cancer by 32%, the study showed. In addition, eating cruciferous vegetables cut the risk of stomach cancer by 10%, pancreatic cancer by 10%, laryngeal cancer by 16%, endometrial cancer by 7%, ovarian cancer by 9%, and prostate cancer by [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-10-02T10:14:17-07:00October, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Convergence in Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Eurekalert.org Powerful new technologies that zoom in on the connections between human genes and diseases have illuminated the landscape of cancer, singling out changes in tumor DNA that drive the development of certain types of malignancies such as melanoma or ovarian cancer. Now several major biomedical centers have collaborated to shine a light on head and neck squamous cell cancer. Their large-scale analysis has revealed a surprising new set of mutations involved in this understudied disease. In back-to-back papers published online July 28 in Science, researchers from the Broad Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have confirmed genetic abnormalities previously suspected in head and neck cancer, including defects in the tumor suppressor gene known as p53. But the two teams also found mutations in the NOTCH family of genes, suggesting their role as regulators of an important stage in cell development may be impaired. "This adds a new dimension to head and neck cancer biology that was not on anyone's radar screen before," said Levi A. Garraway, a senior associate member of the Broad Institute, an assistant professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, and a senior author of one of the Science papers. "Head and neck cancer is complex and there are many mutations, but we can infer there is a convergence on a cellular process for which we previously did not have genetic evidence. It shows that if you [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-28T13:36:56-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Is there a relationship between coffee and tea intake and head and neck cancers?

Source: EBD- Evidence Based Dentistry Data sources Pooled individual-level data from nine case–control studies of head and neck cancers, including 5,139 cases and 9,028 controls. Study selection Nine case-control studies were selected from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium pool of 33 studies, which included information on coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated) and tea drinking and cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx. Seven studies also included information on laryngeal cancer. Data extraction and synthesis Data from individual studies were checked for inconsistencies and pooled in a standardised way into a common database, including a range of sociodemographic, behavioural, lifestyle and health information. Data on consumption across studies were then converted into cups of de/caffeinated tea or coffee per day. The association between head and neck cancers and caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea intake was assessed by estimating the odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using a two-stage random-effects logistic regression model with the maximum likelihood estimator. Pooled ORs were also estimated with a fixed-effects logistic regression model. In addition, a test for heterogeneity among studies was conducted. Results Caffeinated coffee intake was inversely associated with the risk of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx: the ORs were 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94–0.98) for an increment of one cup per day and 0.61 (95% CI, 0.47–0.80) in drinkers of >4 cups per day versus non-drinkers. This latter estimate was consistent for different anatomic sites (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.30–0.71 for oral cavity; [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-13T09:58:16-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Two Elements Predict Swallowing Difficulties after Radiotherapy

Source: International Medicine News LONDON – Nonglottic cancer and the presence of dysphagia before treatment are highly predictive for severe acute and late swallowing difficulties after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, according to new data from the DAHANCA 6&7 randomized trial. Patients with nonglottic cancer were more likely than those with other cancer types to experience severe dysphagia at both 6 and 12 months. Dysphagia before treatment was also associated with both acute and late severe swallowing difficulties. "The peak incidence of dysphagia is seen during the first 6 months after radiotherapy," Hanna Rahbek Mortensen, Ph.D., reported in an analysis of the DAHANCA (Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group) 6&7 trial findings at the European Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology Anniversary Congress. "After 1 year, however, there is no further increase in severity or prevalence," said Dr. Mortensen of the department of experimental clinical oncology at Åarhus (Denmark) University Hospital. The trial involved 1,478 patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the glottic larynx, supraglottic larynx, pharynx, or oral cavity who were who were treated with five or six weekly fractions of radiotherapy in 1992-1999. The total dose of radiotherapy delivered was 66-68 Gy in 33-34 fractions. Efficacy data from the trial have already been published; they showed improved disease-specific but not overall survival of five vs. six fractions of radiotherapy (Lancet 2003;362:933-40). The aim of the present analysis was to use prospectively collected data from the trial to determine whether any factors could be used to establish which patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-18T13:29:04-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Modest Drinking can Heighten your Risk for Cancer

Source: MedScape.org April 14, 2011 — "A considerable proportion of the most common and most lethal cancers is attributable to former and current alcohol consumption," concludes a large European study published online April 8 in BMJ. The researchers attribute about 10% of all cancers in men and about 3% of all cancers in women to previous and current alcohol consumption. The estimates come from an analysis of data from the huge ongoing European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer (EPIC) and from representative data on alcohol consumption compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO). The risk increases even with drinking moderate amounts. "This research supports existing evidence that alcohol causes cancer and that the risk increases even with drinking moderate amounts," coauthor Naomi Allen, DPhil, an epidemiologist at Oxford University, United Kingdom, said in a statement. The original data in the EPIC study were collected from 1992 to 2000, so "the results from this study reflect the impact of people's drinking habits about 10 years ago," Dr. Allen noted. "People are drinking even more now than they were then, and this could lead to more people developing cancer because of alcohol in the future," she added. Data From 8 Countries The EPIC study, which is still ongoing, is one of the largest studies of diet and cancer ever conducted. It involved more than half a million people in Europe. For this analysis of alcohol and cancer, the researchers used EPIC data from 363,988 participants from 8 European countries — France, Italy, Spain, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-26T10:06:35-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Patterns of alcohol and tobacco use affect head and neck cancer risk

Source: www.rtmagazine.com Author: staff Assuming that total exposure is the same, it is worse to smoke lightly for many years than to smoke heavily for a few years when it comes to the risk of head and neck cancer, new research shows. With alcohol use, however, the opposite is true. The results, which were published in the October 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, also confirmed previous research showing that smoking was more strongly associated with laryngeal cancer and that alcohol consumption was more strongly associated with pharyngeal and oral cavity cancers. "Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are known risk factors for head and neck cancers, including cancers of the larynx, oral cavity, and pharynx," co-researcher Dr. Jay H. Lubin, of the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, told Reuters Health. "This paper presented a detailed quantitative evaluation of their effects, using data which were pooled from 15 case-control studies." The researchers modeled the excess odds ratio (EOR) to assess risk by total exposure (pack-years and drink-years), as well as the modification of risk by exposure rate (cigarettes/day and drinks/day). The smoking analysis included 1761 laryngeal, 2453 pharyngeal, and 1990 oral cavity cancer cases. For controls, 7963 were included for laryngeal and 10,114 for pharyngeal and for oral cavity cancer cases. The alcohol analysis included 2551 laryngeal, 3693 pharyngeal, and 3116 oral cavity cancer cases. For controls, 12,179 were included for laryngeal cancer and 15,589 for pharyngeal and oral cavity cancer cases. While smoking increased the risk of all [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-07T11:01:10-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|