App for cancer patients puts rehabilitation at their fingertips

Source: globalnews.ca Author: staff A new app will make therapy more accessible for survivors of head and neck cancers. Developed at the Misericordia hospital and the University of Alberta, the portable swallowing therapy unit will help patients with swallowing impairments complete their rehab in the comfort of their own home. Video available here. The technology will help patients understand what their muscles are doing while they swallow. The app will take two years to develop and test, and the Alberta Cancer Foundation has agreed to fund it – $1.9 million over the next five years. Dr. Jana Rieger, the lead researcher on the project, said it will give patients more independence in their rehabilitation, in contrast to traditional therapy. Traditional swallowing therapy requires patients come to the hospital three to four times a week to use the large rehabilitation equipment. “What ends up happening is probably only about 10 per cent of patients who could benefit from this type of therapy actually come in and get it,” said Rieger. “There’s lots of people out there living with swallowing disorders that we aren’t getting to as clinicians.” The app is combined with an adhesive sensor under the jaw and a pendant that rests on the patient’s chest. The pendant speaks wirelessly to the app and it can send the patient’s data to health-care professionals anywhere in the province. The technology has a few settings that the patient can set to motivate them to complete the therapy. “Things like progress bars, goal-setting, [...]

Exercise helps cancer patients

Source: www.dailyrx.com Author: staff A small trial shows that rehabilitation therapy for head and neck cancer patients clearly improves their ability to swallow faster, something that's often damaged with the cancer treatment. Intense treatment for cancers of the head and neck often involves both chemotherapy and radiation. With many important muscles involved in the region, preventing the areas targeted by radiation from weakening can be avoided with swallowing exercises. The study compared a control group given no swallowing exercises to another group given the series of targeted rehabilitation therapy. It took nine months for the two groups to have equivalent ability, highlighting the importance of preserving muscle function prior to cancer treatment. Importantly, rehabilitation after cancer treatment can prevent some of the worst side effects, and allows patients to get back to their normal day to day life. The initial damage from cancer treatment was extensive, as both groups had equal ability immediately after cancer therapy. Yet the muscle function rebounded quickly in the rehabilitation group, as results at 3 and 6 months after treatment were improved as a result of the swallowing exercises. The group given exercises also rated themselves as more comfortable eating in public, an important qualifier in showing how well the exercises worked. "With improvements in swallowing function from post-treatment exercises, interest in the use of prophylactic swallowing exercises to prevent or minimize post-CRT swallowing dysfunction has grown" the authors write as background in the study. "Indeed, some cancer treatment centers recommend prophylactic swallowing exercises for [...]

Harvard doctor’s startup trains hospitals to rehab cancer survivors

Source: www.bloomberg.com/ Author: John Tozzi Sandra Wade, a Florida social worker, was diagnosed with an incurable form of breast cancer a decade ago. Two surgeries and years of chemotherapy left Wade, 61, with a damaged heart, chronic swelling in her left arm, spinal arthritis, nerve damage and fatigue, among other problems. “They didn’t send me home well,” she says. “They sent me home sicker than I began.” Survivors of strokes, heart attacks and traumatic injuries routinely get rehabilitation to improve their strength, energy and functioning. For cancer patients, it’s a rarity. It wasn’t always this way. “We used to have better cancer rehabilitation than we do now,” says Dr. Catherine Alfano, a program director at the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute. Before the 1980s, when most cancer treatment involved long hospital stays, survivors would get rehab before being discharged. As treatments improved and outpatient care became more common, Alfano says, “those programs kind of disappeared to a large extent.” Now the medical world is recognizing that the 12 million cancer survivors in the U.S. can benefit from more comprehensive rehab. Six years ago the Institute of Medicine called for giving every survivor a “care plan” to manage the lasting consequences of treatment, and this year the American College of Surgeons made such post-treatment attention to quality of life a requirement for its 1,500 accredited hospitals. Dr. Julie Silver, a Harvard Medical School rehab physician who survived breast cancer herself, is one of the pioneers trying to [...]

2011-12-18T12:35:12-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Osseointegration of dental implants after radiotherapy for oral cancer

Source:  Fogorv Sz, February 1, 2009; 102(1): 7-11 Author:  Szegedi Tudományegyetem, Fogorvos-tudományi Kar, Szájsebészeti Tanszék The goal of rehabilitation following radical surgery and radiotherapy for oral cancer is the restoration of oral functions and aesthetics. Osseointegrated implants improve prosthesis stability. Previous radiotherapy was originally considered a contraindication for implant placement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival of dental implants following radiotherapy. Nine oral cancer patients who had undergone radical surgery and radiotherapy were selected. A total of 23 implants were inserted. Twenty-one implants (91.3%) have been functioning without discomfort or infection. This study shows that osseointegrated implants should be considered part of the treatment plan for the rehabilitation of oral cancer patients after radiotherapy.

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