survival rate – 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|

Minimally-invasive treatment option for early stage oral cancer reduces recovery time, improves survival

Source: www.newswise.com Author: Henry Ford Health System Henry Ford Cancer Institute is a leader in providing a minimally invasive procedure called a sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients with early stage oral cancer. The biopsy can be performed at the same time oral cancer is surgically removed, and it can determine if the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. For Henry Ford patient Marlene Calverley, the biopsy meant having three lymph nodes removed versus 30-60 lymph nodes, and a two-inch scar instead of a five-to-six-inch scar. It also meant no neck drains, no physical therapy, and a decreased risk of complications. “We are one of the few – if not the first – medical center in the State of Michigan to adopt this new paradigm for treating early oral cavity squamous cell cancers,” says head and neck cancer surgeon Tamer A. Ghanem M.D., Ph.D., director of Growth, Access, and Service for the Department of Otolaryngology at Henry Ford Cancer Institute. This new paradigm is based on a standard treatment for breast cancer and melanoma skin cancer. The early data shows that sentinel lymph node biopsy may improve patients’ survival rate. Research also demonstrates a significant decrease in recovery time, complications, and effects attributed to a treatment, says Steven Chang, M.D., director of the Head and Neck Oncology program and the Microvascular Surgery Division at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute. Head and neck cancers are among the most common cancers in the U.S. and globally. At the time patients are [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2019-02-12T14:19:17-07:00February, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer in the crosshairs at San Antonio Dental School

Source: tpr.org Author: Wendy Rigby San Antonio researchers are working on a new therapy for a stealthy killer: oral cancer. Visits to the dentist are your number one protection against the disease. In a lab at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, dental researcher Cara Gonzales, DDS, Ph.D., shared promising news on a new approach to healing. "It was very exciting," Gonzales said. "These patients have not had any new therapeutic options in 40 years." The discovery of a new gene that’s turned on in oral cancers gave Gonzales and her colleagues a new target at which to aim. It’s a gene that’s also found in lung cancers. So-called nude mice are used in the oral cancer experiments. Wendy Rigby / Texas Public Radio Gonzales works in a sprawling space filled with lab equipment and cell lines used in many molecular biology projects. One of her research assistants brought in a cage of lab animals with some strange lumps on their backs. "These are called nude mice because they don’t have a complete immune system," Gonzales explained. These mice are at the center of a successful experiment. First, scientists used human oral cancer cells to grow large tumors on the animals. They tried one oral cancer drug already on the market. Not much action. Then, they tried a lung cancer drug, also already approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Not that effective on its own. Finally, they used a combination of two drugs. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-14T11:59:11-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Particular HPV strain linked to improved prognosis for throat cancer

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: provided by University of North Carolina Health Care When it comes to cancer-causing viruses like human papillomavirus, or HPV, researchers are continuing to find that infection with one strain may be better than another. In an analysis of survival data for patients with a particular type of head and neck cancer, researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center confirmed findings that a particular strain of HPV, a virus linked to a number of cancers, resulted in better overall survival for patients with oropharyngeal cancer than patients with other strains of the virus in their tumors. They believe their findings, reported in the journal Oral Oncology, are particularly important as physicians move to lessen treatment intensity for patients with HPV-linked oropharyngeal cancer in clinical trials to try to spare them negative side effects of radiation or drugs. They also found that a test used widely to determine patients' HPV status may not be sensitive enough to select patients for de-intensification. "What we demonstrate in this study is that the type of HPV can help us to better determine a patient's prognosis," said the study's senior author Jose P. Zevallos, MD, MPH, an associate member of UNC Lineberger and an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine. "We think this is important because HPV positive patients do so well generally, and there's been a huge move nationally to take treatment down a couple notches to limit morbidity and side effects. The risk is that [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-09-29T08:04:03-07:00September, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Minimizing Imaging for Recurrence of HPV-Associated Head & Neck Cancer

Source: www.journals.lww.com/oncologytimesAuthor: Robert H. Carlson SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.—Most recurrences of HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) can be found through imaging and physical exams within six months after treatment, according to a study from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Fla. “For most patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer who have had a negative three-month PET scan, physical exams with history and direct visualization are sufficient to find recurrences,” said Jessica M. Frakes, MD, Assistant Member of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the institute and lead author on the study, in a presentation at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head & Neck Cancer Symposium. “Minimizing the number of exams that do not compromise outcomes not only helps decrease anxiety and stress for our patients, but also eases the financial burden of cancer care,” she said. The study also supports the effectiveness of specialist teams in treating HPV-positive OPSCC with definitive radiation therapy. Frakes said local control at three years was 97.8; regional control 95.3 percent; locoregional control 94 percent; and freedom from distant metastases 91.4 percent. Three-year overall survival was 91 percent. “The number of OPSCC patients and survivors is growing, so there is a great need to determine the general time to recurrence and the most effective modes of recurrence detection in order to guide optimal follow-up care,” Frakes said. But National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for treatment of OPSCC are “one size fits all,” she said, with the same follow-up recommendations whether the disease [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-04-18T17:27:00-07:00April, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Hey, Ontario — boys deserve protection from HPV, too

Source: news.nationalpost.com Author: Robyn Urback For years now, groups including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Cancer Society and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization have been petitioning the Ontario government to cover the cost of the HPV vaccine for boys. Since 2007, the province has paid to immunize girls against the common sexually transmitted infection — which is known to cause cervical, vaginal and other cancers in women, and mouth and throat cancers in men — but boys still have to shell out around $400 or more for three doses (though recent studies show that two doses may be sufficient) of the demonstrably effective, safe vaccine. Alberta and Prince Edward Island already cover the cost of the immunizations for both boys and girls, and so too will Nova Scotia as of this coming fall. And there’s good reason for that: doctors say that the rates of oral cancers among men have risen dramatically over the past several years, with HPV present in about two-thirds of cases. The good news is that the survival rate of these HPV-positive cancers is about 80 per cent; the bad news is that there can be lifelong effects, including problems with swallowing, hearing, tasting and in extreme cases, dependence on a feeding tube. But here’s more good news: we know the HPV vaccine works. In the U.S., for example, it has been shown to reduce the rates of infection among 14- to 19-year-old girls by more than 56 per cent since it was introduced [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-07-03T18:37:03-07:00July, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

New model proposed for predicting outcomes more accurately in HPV-related throat cancer patients

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: staff Researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre are proposing a new model to enable doctors to predict outcomes more accurately for patients with throat cancers specifically caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The findings are published online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study investigators, Dr. Brian O'Sullivan, Lead, Head and Neck Cancer Site Group and Shao-Hui Huang, Research and Clinical Radiation Therapist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, have determined that a new model for classifying the most frequently seen throat cancers in our geographic location is needed. This classification incorporates individual patient factors including age and their smoking status with the traditional classification of the extent of disease, to offer a more personalized approach to predict outcomes and guide treatment. "Our study shows that the current model derived for smoking and alcohol related cancers is not suited for throat cancer caused by HPV, a burgeoning throat cancer population in the Western World, including Canada," says Huang. "This is the future of tumour staging. We need to consider the patient as a whole. Both individual factors, how extensive the disease is in the patient, and tumour biology should play a role in determining the best course of treatment." The purpose of a tumour staging system is to classify the disease into early, intermediate or advanced stage cancer. This classification helps determine treatment plans and can suggest what is likely to be the outcome. In recent years, it's been discovered that throat cancer caused by HPV behaves [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-02-11T07:56:14-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Dental hygienist, consultant detects own oral cancer

Source: www.dentistryiq.com Author: Shelli Castor Dental hygienist and practice-management consultant Barbara Boland discovered at the young age of 41 that she had oral cancer. Boland is now a 10-year cancer survivor, and she hopes her story and experiences will serve to start a continuing dialogue about oral cancer, especially among dental professionals. Boland graduated from Temple University in Pennsylvania in 1982 and has been working as a practice-management consultant for 24 years. In December 2002, she discovered a peculiar white spot on her tongue that she knew she hadn’t noticed before. She kept an eye on the spot for a month, and because it was changing, she showed her tongue to a head and neck surgeon. The surgeon responded that it couldn’t be cancer for various reasons: she didn’t smoke or drink, she was female, and she was “too young” — there was no way the spot could be cancer. While such an almost flippant response to a patient’s concerns seems wildly out of place and unexpected today, Boland notes that 10 years ago, dental and medical professionals were not well-educated on the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of oral cancer. For dental and medical professionals 10 years ago, the most common risk factors included tobacco and alcohol use, age, and the fact that males had a higher incidence of oral cancer than females. Boland fit none of those categories, and so her concerns were not seen as pressing. Still, the spot on her tongue “didn’t feel right” to her. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-10-15T07:37:56-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers identify a gene that predicts recurrence in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/ Author: press release Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck—which typically arises from thin, flat cells that line moist surfaces inside the mouth, nose and throat—is the sixth most common type of cancer worldwide, and it has a relatively low five-year survival rate and a high recurrence rate. Recently, the disease has become even more prevalent among adults 40 years of age or younger. These statistics underscore the need for a greater understanding of the molecular underpinnings of this form of cancer. Toward this goal, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene that predicts disease recurrence in individuals with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The new findings, which will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012 on Monday, April 2, show that patients with one common variant of a gene which encodes the cytochrome P450 (CYP1B1) protein are likely to have a longer time-to-recurrence than those with the more typical form of the gene. "This is the first study to look at the association between CYP1B1 variants and time-to-recurrence in head and neck cancer, and the findings could lead to personalized treatment strategies for patients with this type of cancer," says Fox Chase study author Ekaterina Shatalova, Ph.D., research associate in the lab of Margie L. Clapper, Ph.D., also senior investigator on the study. Shatalova, Clapper and their colleagues focused on CYP1B1 because this enzyme is known to produce carcinogens by metabolizing tobacco smoke and alcohol—substances that increase the risk of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-04-03T09:09:51-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

What accounts for racial differences in head/neck cancer?

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff Why are African-Americans more likely than Caucasians not only to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer, but also to die from the disease? While the answer isn't a simple one, differences in lifestyle, access to care, and tumor genetics may be partly to blame, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital. The study, which was presented September 14 at the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation's annual meeting in San Francisco, also found that African-Americans are more likely to be past or current smokers, one of the primary risk factors for head and neck cancer. "We're really trying to understand why African-Americans with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma do so poorly," said lead author Maria Worsham, PhD, director of research in the department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at Henry Ford, in a news release. "Using a comprehensive set of risk factors that are known to have some bearing on the disease, we're able to gain a better understanding of what contributes to racial differences and work to help improve patient care." This year alone, it's estimated that 52,140 new cases of head and neck cancer will be diagnosed, and roughly 11,460 will die in 2011 from oral cavity and pharyngeal and laryngeal cancers, she and her team members noted. African-Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and have a worse five-year survival rate than Caucasians. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-19T19:21:47-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|