tongue cancer – Page 4 – Oral Cancer News

Baker serves great desserts despite not tasting them

Source: Livingston Daily Author: Frank Konkel The Argentine Township woman loves the way chaotic mountains of ingredients meld together to form a singular creation. In the sugary-sweet science of baking desserts, she is a master, wielding her two chief weapons, chocolate and peanut butter, like a wizard waves a wand. At family functions, people fight over whichever dish she brings to pass. Her nephew, committed to play college football this year for the University of Indiana, isn't worried about taking hits from 300-pound linemen. He's worried about how his aunt is going to ship him care packages full of cupcakes across state lines. Dave Johnson, her husband of six years, recalls thinking, "Oh, my God, can she ever cook," after the couple's first dinner date back in 2002. He's fought a losing battle with his waistline ever since. "I've been told by many people that they're the best thing they've ever eaten," Tami Johnson said, without a hint of boasting in her voice. Thing is, she can't taste the delectable desserts she makes. At least not her cupcakes. Not anymore. Last July, the 43-year-old had her tongue removed by doctors in an effort to rid her of the oral cancer she was diagnosed with June 19, 2009. For the following three months, she underwent two rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation treatment. Doctors were forced to remove 112 lymph nodes from her head and neck, two of which tested positive for cancer. The oral cancer and subsequent treatments taxed [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-08-22T21:01:57-07:00August, 2010|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Gene may hold key to reducing spread of oral cancers

Source: University of Illinois Author: Sam Hostettler The spread of cancer cells in the tongue may be reduced if a gene that regulates cancer cell migration can be controlled, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Oral cancer is an under-treated and poorly understood disease, says Xiaofeng "Charles" Zhou, assistant professor in the UIC Center for Molecular Biology of Oral Diseases and lead researcher of the study. More than 90 percent of oral cancers are squamous cell carcinomas that normally start on the gums, floor of the mouth, or tongue. About 30,000 Americans are affected each year, Zhou said. While new cancers of all types have risen 8 percent in the last five years, oral cancer increased 21 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. Tongue squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most frequent oral cancers, rose more than 37 percent in this period. And although overall cancer deaths decreased during this period, those due to oral cancer increased by 4 percent -- and those due to tongue squamous cell carcinoma by 10 percent. Improvements in patient survival require better understanding of tumor invasion and how cancer spreads, Zhou said, so that aggressive tumors can be detected early and targeted therapies can be developed. While researchers have tried to identify altered genes that contribute to the aggressive nature of tongue squamous cell carcinoma, most previous studies have focused on protein-encoding genes, Zhou said. The new study examines a noncoding gene called microRNA-138. MicroRNAs are small, noncoding [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-25T20:13:36-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Trends in the incidence rates of tonsil and base of tongue cancer in England, 1985-2006

Source: Ann Royal Coll Surgery Engl. 2010 Jul 7 Authors: Reddy V, Cundall-Curry D, Bridger M. Abstract: INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to investigate whether incidence rates of tonsil and base of tongue cancer in England are increasing using data from the UK cancer registry. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Cancer registrations for oral cavity and oropharynx cancer from 1985-2006 in England were obtained from the National Cancer Information Service. Population estimates were obtained from the Office for National Statistics. Age-adjusted incidence rates and age-specific incidence rates were calculated. The sexes were considered separately as incidence rates are known to differ significantly between men and women. Linear regression was performed to establish whether there was a relationship between incidence rates and time. RESULTS There has been an increase in all oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer in the study period. Linear regression analysis suggests that approximately 90% of the variance in age-adjusted incidence rates for men and women for tonsil, base of tongue and other oral cavity cancer is explained by the passage of time. For other oropharyngeal cancer, the variance is 62% and 46% in men and women, respectively. The estimated annual percentage change from 1985 to 2006 in age-adjusted incidence rates for tonsil and base of tongue cancer is 5.7% and 6.7% for men, and 4.3% and 6.5% for women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms a wide-spread clinical impression that there has been an increase in age-adjusted incidence rates, between 1985 and 2006, in all oral cavity cancer in England. [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-07-12T11:23:01-07:00July, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Research argues HPV vaccine should extend to boys

Source: RadioAustralia.net Author: Staff It is already available free to young girls in countries like Nauru, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Cook Islands, but researchers are now saying the human papilloma virus, or HPV, vaccine Gardasil should also be offered to males. It follows new Australian research showing that the virus which causes cervical cancer in women is now a leading cause of oral cancer in men. It says 60 per cent of throat and tonsil cancers are caused by the virus. Presenter: Lindy Kerin Speaker: Barbara Rowe, associate professor in research with University of Sydney; Luke Connolly, director of Australian Centre for Economic Research; Dr Jonathan Clark, head and neck surgeon with Royal Prince Alfred and Liverpool Hospitals, New South Wales LINDY KERIN: For the past two years Australia has been rolling out the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil to young women. It immunises them against the human papilloma virus, or HPV as it's known. Now there's growing evidence that the same virus is responsible for an increasing number of mouth and throat cancers in men. Barbara Rowe is an associate professor in research at the University of Sydney. BARBARA ROWE: We've tested just over 300 cancers of the oropharynx, and the oropharynx includes the tonsil and the base of tongue and part of the pharangyl wall. And we've tested those for the human papilloma virus type-16 and type-18, which the major cause of cervical cancer in women. And we found a sizeable proportion are associated with those types. In fact probably [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-04-01T17:14:59-07:00April, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Mike Strantz remembered for visions

Source: Thepilot.com Author: Howard Ward He was a commanding figure. He wore his hair long, his mustache bushy, and he was a big guy, ruggedly handsome. Mike Strantz didn’t look like a man who would go easily, and he didn’t. He fought the cancer with the same determination that he approached a property that dared him to build a golf course on it. I was fortunate enough to do two interviews with Strantz, shortly after the opening of Tobacco Road in Sanford, one of his architectural triumphs, and again while he was applying the finishing touches to Tot Hill, an amazing course laid out on a challenging piece of land in Asheboro. Both of those golf courses tell you a lot about Mike Strantz, the golf course designer. But his widow, the lovely Heidi, can tell you a lot more about Mike Strantz, the husband and father of two beautiful daughters. Heidi Strantz talked about her late husband and the love of her life during a meeting of the Carolinas Golf Reporters and the South Carolina Golf Ratings Panel last weekend at Seabrook Island Resort, and it was both inspirational and moving. “I thought I was marrying a golf course superintendent when I married Mike,” she recalled. “He had just graduated from the turfgrass school at Michigan, and we thought he would make a career of that.” Mike definitely knew how to make grass grow, and he enjoyed working the land. He was on the scene at Inverness during the [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-03-23T14:15:57-07:00March, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Tongue reconstruction

Source: www.wsoctv.com/health Author: staff Tongue cancer accounts for about 25 percent of all oral cancers. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 10,530 cases of tongue cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. Although the cancer can occur at any age, it’s most commonly diagnosed in older people, with a median age at diagnosis of 61. Men are affected about twice as often as women. Two important risk factors for tongue cancer are smoking and drinking. For people who smoke and drink, the risk may be up to 100 times that of those who neither smoke nor drink. Another risk factor for tongue cancer is HPV (human papillomavirus) infection. Douglas Chepeha, M.D., Microvascular Reconstructive Surgeon with the University of Michigan, says doctors are also seeing cases of tongue cancer in young and older women who neither smoke nor drink. The reasons for these cases are not clear. Overall five-year survival rates for tongue cancer are about 59.5 percent. However, the cancer has the potential to spread fairly quickly. If the cancer is detected when the condition is still localized, 5-year survival rates are over 77 percent. Once the cancer spreads regionally, survival rates drop to about 55 percent. Thus, early diagnosis is important. Patients who develop a sore on the tongue that doesn’t heal or bleeds easily should see a physician for evaluation. Treating Tongue Cancer: Reconstruction After Surgery Tongue cancer typically occurs on one side of the tongue. The main treatment is surgery, which can require removal [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-19T23:14:42-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Colleen Zenk Pinter: Cancer survivor has much to be thankful for this year

Source: Acorn Online Author: Susan Wolf Thanksgiving will be more than a pleasant holiday gathering with family and friends this year for Colleen Zenk Pinter. It will be a celebration of life, of being thankful for those closest to her. Ms. Zenk Pinter approaches this Thanksgiving cancer-free after a long and often painful battle with oral cancer. Her journey has been fraught with setbacks, but she has emerged as a formidable opponent, one who now uses her celebrity to educate others about oral cancer. A two-time Emmy Award nominee, Colleen Zenk Pinter has played the character of Barbara Ryan since 1978 on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. Her own world was turned upside down in March 2007 when her oral cancer was diagnosed. A lesion under her tongue “that didn’t even look like cancer” was, in fact, cancer. Somehow she got through her daughter Georgia’s 14th birthday party, telling no one, not even her husband, actor Mark Pinter, who was out of town. Finally, the next day, she gave the news to her husband and mother and then went to see Jen Wastrom, a woman she affectionately calls the “ring leader” of her posse of friends. Eventually “the posse” was notified and thesupport that has come to mean so much to Ms. Zenk Pinter immediately materialized. After a second opinion from Dr. Clarence Sasaki of Yale-New Haven Hospital on how best to treat her cancer, Ms. Zenk Pinter put herself into his hands. He performed a partial [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-11-30T11:47:23-07:00November, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer survivor’s animal sanctuary being foreclosed

Source: The Press-Enterprise Author: JULISSA McKINNON After 21 years of sheltering crippled and slaughter-bound horses and other barnyard animals, Renee Duncan is losing her 12-acre rescue ranch to foreclosure. Now Duncan, a 63-year-old former emergency room nurse in remission from cancer, is scrambling to move dozens of rescued animals out of the gully in unincorporated Perris in southwest Riverside County long known as the Meadowbrook Animal Sanctuary and Haven. Until Duncan finds a permanent home, a neighbor is offering shelter to her and her 50-some horses, a couple of emus, two turkeys and dozens of goats, pigs and dogs. Though there are two people bidding on the ranch who say they would allow Duncan and her critters to stay as renters, Ocwen Bank, which is repossessing the ranch, has ordered Duncan to clear the property by 6 a.m. Monday. Eviction attorneys and brokers with Ocwen Bank declined to comment on the situation. Duncan said her nonprofit animal rescue is going under ironically because she always put her animals first. She said she began to run into financial trouble in 2005 after being diagnosed with throat and tongue cancer. She stopped working to undergo chemotherapy and radiation. Duncan refinanced the house three times to try to keep up with medical bills and animal care. As money grew tight, she always paid for animal feed and veterinary care, which amounts to about $3,000 a month, even if that meant not paying the mortgage. "I ended up with a $4,000-a-month payment at 12.5 [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-19T07:40:46-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Too Hot for Teacher?

Calendar raises money and eyebrows Source: Fox 35 News Author: Holly Bristow COCOA BEACH, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - On campus, he teaches math at Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High. Off campus, he’s known in some circles as “Mr. August.” Patrick Kile is the driving force behind a calendar which features fellow teachers – some scantily-clad – all for a charity project. Money raised from calendar sales goes to cancer research. It’s a fundraiser for his “Relay for Life” team and all profits are going to the the American Cancer Society, but do students really need to see skin from their teachers? While it’s getting some good reviews, shots like Mr. June (pictured) are making some waves, as six of the teachers are shirtless. “Coach Mortar coaches wrestling and works with weightlifting,” said Kile. “He also teaches history.” “They're teachers! You've got young impressionable teenage girls,” said one parent lab.woodward.edu. “They don't need that. They need role models, not sexy muscles.” Kile, 33, teaches Geometry and helps coach Girl’s Soccer. “We just wanted something ‘outside the box,’ unique and fun and different, that would help open some eyeballs and raise some money,” said Kile, who is a cancer survivor himself. “Back in 2005, I was diagnosed with tongue cancer that spread to my neck.” Now that he's in remission, Kile is trying to help other cancer victims. “It’s for a good cause. I went to the school board and spoke with the ethics director of human resources and he thought [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-04-28T09:17:06-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Reconstructive surgery aids swallowing after tongue cancer resection

Source: www.medicexchange.com Author: David Douglas Almost all patients with base of tongue cancers treated with primary surgery and reconstructed with a modified radial forearm free flap consistently achieve efficient and safe swallowing postoperatively, Canadian researchers report in the August issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. As senior investigator Dr. Hadi Seikaly told Reuters Health, "This procedure effectively restores swallowing, speech and quality of life for patients requiring major resections of the tongue." Dr. Seikaly of Walter C. MacKenzie Health Sciences Centre, Edmonton, Alberta and colleagues note that there is a lack of information on the functional outcome of such procedures. To investigate further, the team prospectively followed patients who were treated with primary surgical resection and reconstruction with the beavertail modification of radial forearm free flap followed by radiotherapy. After a follow-up of at least one year, 19 of the 20 patients with complete data who were included in the final analysis were able to swallow safely. Nevertheless, mobility of the base of the tongue was reduced compared to presurgical findings according to videofluoroscopic swallowing study data, but no significant difference was found in pharyngeal wall mobility, and the bulk of the base of the tongue was preserved. The procedure, the researchers conclude, maintains adequate base of the tongue and posterior pharyngeal wall apposition allowing "structures such as the pharyngeal, oral, and suprahyoid musculature to contract and generate the necessary force to propel the food bolus through the oropharynx, resulting in a safe swallow." Original source: [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-09-13T10:07:29-07:00September, 2008|Oral Cancer News|