HPV Vaccine Could Protect More People With Fewer Doses, Doctors Insist

Source: www.npr.org Date: March 29, 2017 Author: Michelle Andrews You'd think that a vaccine that protects people against more than a half dozen types of cancer would have patients lining up to get it. But the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which can prevent roughly 90 percent of all cervical cancers as well as other cancers and sexually transmitted infections caused by the virus, has faced an uphill climb since its introduction more than a decade ago. Now, with a dosing schedule that requires fewer shots of a more effective vaccine, a leading oncology group has joined other clinicians and public health advocates who are pushing hard to prevent these virus-related cancers. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended reducing the number of HPV vaccine shots from three to two for girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 14. This month, the American Society of Clinical Oncologists also urged physicians in the U.S. and abroad to use the vaccine to help provide protection against cervical cancer. The CDC recommendation was based, in part, on clinical trial data that showed two doses were just as effective as a three-dose regimen for this age group. (Young people older than 14 still require three shots.) The clinical trial was conducted using Gardasil 9, a version of the vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late 2014. It protects against nine types of HPV, seven that are responsible for 90 percent of cervical [...]

2017-03-29T09:16:53-07:00March, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Immunotherapy Making Its Mark on Head and Neck Cancer

Author: Lisa Miller Published online: 03/22/2017 Source: http://www.targetedonc.com/ Following the approval of 2 immunotherapy agents, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) over the last 6 months, immunotherapy is making its mark on the treatment paradigm for HNC. Due to the responses seen with these 2 agents, immunotherapies are being investigated further in the treatment of HNC. “Immunotherapy is a very potent treatment for some patients. In a way it shows you that we’re probably just scratching the surface with [immunotherapy treatment for HNC],” Tanguy Seiwert, MD, said during a presentation at the 1st Annual International Congress on Immunotherapies in CancerTM, hosted by the Physicians' Education Resource (PER). Findings from the KEYNOTE-012 trial led to the approval of pembrolizumab in patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The overall response rate was 18% with only 1 patient experiencing a complete response.1 However, about 50% of patients, both HPV-positive and HPV-negative, experienced a decrease in their target lesions. “I would like to point out that response is a terrible, terrible outcome measure for immunotherapy. In the end, what we really care about with immunotherapy is overall survival [OS],” commented Seiwert, associate program director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program, and assistant professor of medicine, The University of Chicago Medicine. “Many patients have prolonged stable disease and that likely contributes signicantly to the strong OS signal that we oftentimes see.” The phase III CheckMate 141 trial, which Seiwert said [...]

2017-03-27T09:42:03-07:00March, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

UK cancer patient receives new jaw thanks to 3D printing

Source: http://www.3ders.org/ Author: staff 3D printing techniques are being adopted with increasing regularity in surgery of all kinds, and more and more patients are seeing a hugely improved quality of life thanks to the unique benefits of the technology. The most recent success story took place in the UK, where a patient’s jawbone was entirely reconstructed using bone from his leg. The pioneering surgical procedure made use of 3D printing at various different stages. Stephen Waterhouse was diagnosed with throat cancer eight years ago, and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy in order to fight it. The treatments were a great success and his cancer went away, but they had an unfortunate side effect. His jawbone had started to crumble, and emergency surgery was required before it completely disintegrated. The 53-year-old was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital, which had purchased a new 3D printer just two years previously. Costing the hospital trust around £150,000 (about $188K), the machine is the only one of its kind in the country, and was a crucial part of the effort to save the patient’s jawbone. A 3D model was designed from a scan of his remaining intact jaw and printed out as a mold, which was then used to reconstruct the jaw using bone taken from his fibula. The operation lasted around 12 hours and was a great success. According to Daya Gahir, consultant in maxillofacial and head and neck surgery, the hospital does "at least 40 major head and neck reconstructions per year. Around [...]

Magnolia man joins exclusive trial in battle against cancer

Source: www.cantonrep.com Author: Denise Sautters Rich Bartlett is looking forward to getting back to his hobbies — woodworking and nature watching — and enjoying a good steak and potato dinner. Until then, though, he is in a fight for his life, one he plans to win. Bartlett is a cancer patient and the first participant in a clinical trial at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland to test the safety of an immunotherapy drug — Pembrolizumab — when added to a regimen of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Back to the beginning Bartlett went to the dentist in October for a checkup. "He had a sore in his mouth he thought was an abscess," explained his wife, Nancy Bartlett, who pointed out that, because radiation and chemo treatments cause the inside of the mouth to burn and blister, it is hard for Bartlett to talk. "When the dentist looked at his sore, he sent Richard to a specialist in Canton, and in early November, he had a biopsy done. It came back positive for cancer." From there, he was referred to Dr. Pierre Lavertu, director of head and neck surgery and oncology at University Hospitals, and Dr. Chad Zender from the otolaryngology department, who did Bartlett's surgery. "They let us know it was serious," said Nancy. "It had gone into the bone and the roof of the mouth, but they were not sure if it had gone into the lymph nodes. By the time we got through that appointment, [...]

Self-persuasion iPad app spurs low-income parents to protect teens against cancer-causing HPV

Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-03-self-persuasion-ipad-app-spurs-low-income.html Date: March 7, 2017 As health officials struggle to boost the number of teens vaccinated against the deadly human papillomavirus, a new study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, found that self-persuasion works to bring parents on board. Currently public health efforts rely on educational messages and doctor recommendations to persuade parents to vaccinate their adolescents. Self-persuasion as a tool for HPV vaccinations has never been researched until now. The SMU study found that low-income parents will decide to have their teens vaccinated against the sexually transmitted cancer-causing virus if the parents persuade themselves of the protective benefits. The study's subjects—almost all moms—were taking their teens and pre-teens to a safety-net pediatric clinic for medical care. It's the first to look at changing parents' behavior through self-persuasion using English- and Spanish-language materials. "This approach is based on the premise that completing the vaccination series is less likely unless parents internalize the beliefs for themselves, as in 'I see the value, I see the importance, and because I want to help my child,'" said psychology professor Austin S. Baldwin, a principal investigator on the research. Depending on age, the HPV vaccine requires a series of two or three shots over eight months. External pressure might initially spark parents to action. But vaccinations decline sharply after the first dose. The new study follows an earlier SMU study that found guilt, social pressure or acting solely upon a doctor's recommendation was not related to parents' motivation to vaccinate their kids. The new [...]

2017-03-07T10:54:19-07:00March, 2017|Oral Cancer News|
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