5/8/2007 Kansas City, MO Mike Hendricks KansasCity.com Fighting the disease is only half the battle, Mary Casey says. That still leaves the insurance company. At least that’s how it seems to the 57-year-old Brookside woman, a part-time admissions officer at St. Teresa’s Academy. It’s bad enough Casey had the misfortune of getting cancer. Now she finds herself on the wrong end of someone’s cost-benefit analysis. “I was stunned,” she told me. “I turned to my husband and said, ‘Now what?’ ” What floored Casey was that her oncologist prescribed one of the few drugs that work on her rare form of cancer. Yet her insurance company refuses to pay for the expensive new medicine, despite studies showing the drug’s effectiveness. “You can work all your life,” Casey says, “always pay your premiums, and then be blindsided by denial of coverage when the crisis hits.” There is no news in that. Yet if we are ever to change the system, stories such as Casey’s need telling. They remind us that all too often life or death comes down to dollars and cents. In this case, pills that cost about $3,600 for a month’s supply. Casey was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in early 2005. To excise the malignant tissue, a surgeon at the KU Cancer Center removed the roof of her mouth and replaced it with a synthetic one. He prescribed a regimen of radiation treatments but warned that the cancer was likely to return somewhere else in the body. It [...]

5/8/2007 Palm Beach, FL Elisa Cramer PalmBeachPost.com After a 42-year-old African-American seamstress refused to give up her bus seat in 1955 to a white man, the nation responded to racism in Montgomery, Ala., in a way it had not nine months before, when a 15-year-old girl was arrested for doing the same thing. Both women were bold. Both were courageous. Both were, as Rosa Parks described herself, "only tired ... of giving in." Neither deserved the arrest, but only one became the face of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was not Claudette Colvin, a pregnant, unmarried teenager. To make Florida's lawmakers care about saving women from cervical cancer, a 58-year-old married father from Tampa - not sexually active teenagers - must become the face of the virus that leads to 3,700 deaths each year. David Hastings is fighting throat cancer that researchers say was caused by the same sexually transmitted virus that causes most cervical cancers. "All of my adult life," Mr. Hastings said to members of the House Schools and Learning Council last month, "I was a nonsmoker. I was a casual drinker. I was an exercise nut, a health nut." Last spring, Mr. Hastings noticed two lumps in his neck while shaving. After five doctors and several scans, an ear, nose and throat specialist told him he had Stage 4 cancer. As Mr. Hastings pointed out, "There is no Stage 5." Mr. Hastings fainted at the doctor's recommendation: "a radical neck dissection" to his collarbone to remove 26 [...]

5/8/2007 Miami, FL Carolynn Susman MiamiHerald.com Peter Billias says he is dying of oral cancer, the kind that eats away the insides of your mouth, and the kind that may have been preventable. Or at least treatable, giving him a chance at survival, if it had been diagnosed earlier. At 50, he recognizes the heavy smoking and drinking he has done all his life are undoubtedly responsible. So, even though his prognosis isn't good, the Lake Worth man gave up the cigarettes and booze and has been clean and sober, he says, for five of the eight months since his diagnosis. He didn't call to complain or rail about his fate. He called to get the word out about making sure that lumps and bumps that aren't right in your mouth get the proper attention. That may prevent others from facing his fate. ''If you see anything in your mouth, and it doesn't go away, something is wrong. See an ear, nose and throat doctor. Insist on getting it biopsied,'' he says. ``Or just make sure you request an oral cancer check when you see your dentist. ``It's a horrifying disease. [Treatment can mean] they cut part of your tongue out. And it's hitting more and more people that don't drink or smoke.'' According to www.oralcancerfoundation.org: ``At least 34,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal [throat] cancer this year. It will cause over 8,000 deaths, killing roughly one person per hour, 24 hours per day. Of those 34,000 [...]

5/3/2007 Salt Lake City, UT press release PRNewswire (www.prnewswire.com) BSD Medical Corp. (Amex: BSM) today announced that it has concluded an exhibition at the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS) annual conference held in Chicago, Illinois. The ABS Annual conference provides a forum for reporting developments in brachytherapy. Brachytherapy is an interstitial form of radiation, administered by placing radioactive material in the cancer. Head and neck cancers are an important application for brachytherapy, and they were one of the focuses of the meeting. BSD Medical produces systems that are designed to boost the effectiveness of brachytherapy for certain tumors by providing companion interstitial hyperthermia therapy. BSD Medical representatives used the conference to emphasize a study conducted by Drs. Riccardo Valdagni and Maurizio Amichelli at the Oncology Center of Ospedale Santa Chiara, Trento, Italy, comparing the results for head and neck cancer patients who were treated with radiation alone to those who received hyperthermia therapy plus radiation. The patients involved had inoperable Stage IV head and neck cancer with metastatic lymph nodes. The study concluded that hyperthermia added to radiation improved complete response (tumor disappearance) from 41% to 83%, local relapse-free survival from 24% to 68% and overall survival at 5 years from 0% to 53%, as compared to radiation treatments alone. The study, published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics (see Vol. 28, pp. 163-169), was halted at 41 patients because, due to the strongly favorable results from the addition of hyperthermia therapy to radiation, it was not considered [...]

5/2/2007 Dallas, TX staff TopCancerNews.com Researchers have found a link between intake of fruits and vegetables and decreased risk of developing head and neck cancer. The study results were presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). The study included more than 490,000 individuals aged 50 or older. Over a five year period, 787 participants developed head and neck cancer. Individuals with higher intake of fruits and veggies were less likely to develop head and neck cancers. Overall, vegetables appeared to offer more protection than fruit. Plant groups that were linked with a reduced risk included string beans, peas and dried beans. Apples, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears and strawberries were the important fruits. We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us. This is just one more study to prove that eating a diet with fruits and veggies can help us to prevent cancer.

5/2/2007 South Korea Sang Yoon Kim et al Journal of Nuclear Medicine Vol. 48 No. 5 752-757 High tumor uptake of 18F-FDG is associated with an unfavorable outcome in cancer patients. We evaluated pretreatment 18F-FDG uptake as guidance for the primary treatment modality in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oropharynx. Methods: Fifty-two consecutive patients with newly diagnosed resectable SCC of the oropharynx underwent 18F-FDG PET before treatment. Primary treatment modalities consisted of surgical resection plus radiotherapy (RT) (surgery group, n = 31) or radical RT plus chemotherapy (RT group, n = 21). The sex, age, tumor stage, histologic grade, TNM classification, treatment strategy, and maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) categories were analyzed for association with local control (LC) and disease-free survival (DFS). The median follow-up of the surviving patients was 36 mo. Results: The median SUV was significantly higher in the 11 patients who failed treatment than that in the remaining controlled patients (8.0 vs. 5.4; P = 0.021). Patients having tumors with a high SUV > 6.0 had poorer LC and DFS (P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, the SUV remained an independent determinant of LC and DFS (P < 0.05). Patients with a SUV > 6.0 in the surgery group had a higher 3-y DFS than that in the RT group (78% vs. 33%; P = 0.043). Conclusion: Pretreatment tumor 18F-FDG uptake represents an independent prognostic factor in patients with oropharyngeal SCC. Patients with high 18F-FDG uptake may be better treated by surgery followed by [...]

5/2/2007 web-based article staff CancerConsultants.com Researchers from the MD Anderson Cancer Center have reported that response rates for locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to chemotherapy are not affected by Ethyol® (amifostine) cytoprotection. The details of this study appeared in an early on-line publication in the International Journal of RadiationOncology* Biology* Physics on February 6, 2007. Ethyol® is a radiation protector and the only drug that has been approved by the FDA for this use in patients receiving radiation therapy for cancers of the head and neck. Clinical trials have demonstrated that Ethyol can reduce both acute and late radiation-induced side effects. In the pivotal trial involving patients with head and neck cancer, Ethyol reduced the incidence of xerostomia but had no effect on the incidence or severity of oral mucositis. Ethyol has also been shown to reduce the incidence of grade 2-3 bladder and GI toxicities in patients receiving pelvic radiation therapy. However, the results with Ethyol are conflicting in patients with NSCLC who are receiving radiochemotherapy. A previous study from the MD Anderson Cancer Center reported that Ethyol reduces the severity and incidence of acute esophageal, pulmonary, and hematologic toxicity resulting from concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy in patients with NSCLC. The authors of this study performed a meta-analysis of 7 randomized trials involving Ethyol in patients with NSCLC treated with radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy. There were 601 patients in these studies and data on response were available on 552 patients. They reported that there were [...]

5/1/2007 web-based article staff Huliq (www.huliq.com) Just thinking about swallowing rehabilitation makes it harder to do. Head and neck cancer, a stroke, brain tumor, brain injury or even a tracheostomy tube and mechanical ventilation needed to sustain life can make it impossible. Dysphagia, or swallowing problems, can also result from aging and accompanying loss of muscle strength. "We swallow a thousand times or more per day, just our own saliva, without even thinking about it," says Dr. Lori Burkhead, speech-language pathologist and clinical research scientist at the Medical College of Georgia Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. "We swallow in our sleep. Babies do it in utero. It is something we do without giving it much thought, but it's actually a very complex act that involves an intricate coordination between the brain, muscles and respiratory system." An estimated 18 million Americans have difficulty with this routine function that, at worst, can lead to aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition, dehydration and death. Evidence suggests that the same exercise science principles that strengthen bodies can help restore this fundamental function using mouth and throat muscles. Because swallowing muscles are not easy to access, applying the usual principles of exercise is more difficult. "Physical therapists can put a weight in someone's hand and exercise them or they can give patients external assistance and get them to complete a movement," says Dr. Burkhead. "I can't put weights on throat muscles for strengthening and I can't get at those muscles to help patients finish the [...]

5/1/2007 web-based article staff ScienceDaily.com Oral cancer is diagnosed in more than 30,000 individuals in the US annually, claiming 10,000 lives each year. Early detection remains the best way to ensure patient survival and quality of life. Today, during the 85th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research, scientists from the University of California-Irvine present two novel, non-invasive, ultra-fast imaging approaches to oral cancer detection, diagnostic screening, and mapping. More than 2/3 of all oral cancer cases documented by the National Cancer Institute are diagnosed at an advanced stage. The five-year survival rate is 75% for those with localized disease at diagnosis, but only 16% for those with cancer metastasis. Earlier detection of oral lesions would greatly improve the prognosis of these patients. Accurate delineation of lesion margins would ensure effective removal of all the tissue that presents a threat to the patient's long-term health. Two basic facts indicate that early detection of oral malignancy should be possible to a far greater extent than is currently seen: (1) Accounting for 96% of all oral cancers, squamous cell carcinoma is often preceded by lesions on the oral mucosa. Malignant transformation, which is quite unpredictable, occurs in 1-90% of lesions over five years. Thus, oral cancer is often preceded by lesions which are visible to the naked eye prior to transformation. A non-invasive diagnostic modality would permit regular monitoring of these lesions, detection of lesion transformation, and the identification of treatment needs at a very early, relatively harmless stage. (2) [...]

4/30/2007 Lexington, KY Karla Ward Herald-Leader.com A local company with ties to the University of Kentucky plans to market a dietary supplement, skin cream and chewing gum based on blackberry extract. Paige Shumate Short, a Paris businesswoman, and Russell Mumper, a UK researcher, are the co-founders of Four Tigers LLC, which Short calls a "berryceutical" company. In the near future, they hope to find licensing partners -- maybe a chewing gum company such as Wrigley or a supplement supplier such as GNC Ð to sell their over-the-counter products, which will not require Food and Drug Administration approval. Short's father, the late Wayne Shumate, began growing antioxidant-rich blackberries at WindStone Farms in Paris more than two decades ago, and Four Tigers now has an exclusive partnership with the farm. In the longer term, Short and Mumper hope to use the revenue stream from their supplement, gum and cream to develop FDA-approved drugs that incorporate blackberry extract. Studies have found berries are full of powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. In an early study, Mumper found that the extract stopped the growth of colon cancer cells in a petri dish, but much more research would have to be done to determine whether the same would be true of cancer cells in the human body. Short said the company's "pot of gold" would be an injectable drug. While eating blackberries is healthful, the body does not absorb them well, and Mumper said "you've got to eat a lot of berries to give you an [...]