June 2022 – Page 2 – Oral Cancer News

The potential of e-learning interventions for AI-assisted contouring skills in radiotherapy (E33046)

Source: www.iaea.org Author: Kamal Akbarov The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is launching a new Coordinated Research Project (CRP) aimed at investigating the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance contouring skills in radiotherapy, especially focusing on increasing accuracy of delineation of organs at risk in head and neck cancers. Radiation oncology has evolved rapidly in recent decades in terms of innovations in treatment equipment, volumetric imaging, information technology and increased knowledge in cancer biology. New delivery technologies and associated imaging modalities have enabled highly optimized precision radiation therapy and contributed to improvements in tumor control and cancer patient cure. The selection and contouring of target volumes and organs at risk (OARs) has become a key step in modern radiation oncology. Concepts and terms for definition of gross tumor volume, clinical target volume and OARs have been continuously evolving and have become widely disseminated and accepted by the international radiation oncology community. However, clinical research from single institutions and multicentre experiences has provided evidence for major variations in contouring for both target volumes and OARs. In recent years, AI-based methods, such as deep learning, have improved auto-segmentation drastically. It is generally believed that the use of such tools will lead to lower the inter-observer variation and time savings for clinical staff. A wide palette of commercial deep learning-based auto-segmentation solutions are emerging with the promise of leveraging the aforementioned benefits. While the objective performances for deep learning-based auto-segmentation in retrospective studies are very promising, the actual clinical benefit is largely [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-14T05:09:39-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Startup that uses saliva tests to diagnose oral cancers wins New Venture Challenge

Source: news.uchicago.edu Author: press release University of Chicago A startup developing saliva-based diagnostics to screen for oral cancers and pre-cancers has won first place in the 26th annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge, the signature venture competition for MBA students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. More than $1.76 million in investment was awarded to the 11 finalist teams competing in NVC finals on June 2, the largest amount ever awarded in the history of the pioneering startup accelerator. The event was held in person at Chicago Booth’s Harper Center for the first time since 2019. “Our finalist teams were spectacular and spectacularly diverse—from a test to detect cancer, to tiles for spacecraft, to a market for hydrogen, to wine and healthy food,” said Steven Kaplan, the Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at Chicago Booth and the Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where he cofounded the NVC. “The strength of our teams was such that they generated a record amount of investment, surpassing last year’s $1.73 million.” The Rattan L. Khosa First-Place Prize, totaling $665,000 in investment, was awarded to OrisDX, a venture that seeks to help alleviate the burden of cancer morbidity globally through greater access to non-invasive diagnostics and screening resulting in early detection of head and neck cancers. OrisDX, which is also a participant in the Compass deep tech accelerator, a finalist in the George Shultz Innovation Fund and was a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-10T06:54:33-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Simple blood test may allow for early detection of oral cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: Wiley press release The current 60% five-year survival rate of individuals with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)—a type of cancer of the mouth and throat—could be greatly improved if treatments were initiated as early as possible. In a study published in Natural Sciences, researchers used a technology called conductive polymer spray ionization mass spectrometry to screen the blood for metabolic signs of OSCC. The method could accurately distinguish between individuals with and without OSCC.  Also, two altered lipid markers that were discovered in the blood could be traced back to the cancer site for guiding surgical margin assessments. The method—which requires only a single drop of blood—could also distinguish between patients with early versus later stages of OSCC.  “This study represents the fruits of research involving the United States and China, in which all the participants believed that the results would be a win for both countries and for the world as a whole, an idea that seems alas to be disappearing in these times of mutual suspicion and distrust of international collaborations,” said co–corresponding author Richard N, Zare, PhD, of Stanford University. The author of an accompanying Research Highlight noted that the study “is a perfect showcase for how mass spectrometry-based metabolomics workflows can be simplified to make them usable in clinical applications.” URL Upon Publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ntls.20210071

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-07T08:10:47-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Radiation alone may suffice for some nasopharyngeal cancer

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Ed Susman, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today In selected patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, radiation alone may do as much against the disease as the combination of radiation and chemotherapy but with fewer adverse effects, researchers suggested here. About 90% of patients who received radiation alone achieved failure-free survival at 3 years versus 91.9% of patients treated with both radiation and chemotherapy (P=0.86; non-inferiority P<0.001), reported Jun Ma, MD, PhD, of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China. In his virtual oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Ma also reported that 98.2% of patients treated with radiation alone survived to 3 years compared with 98.6% of patients who got both radiation and chemotherapy (P=0.30). The multifaceted subgroup analysis almost entirely favored treatment with alone. There was no difference in distant metastasis-free survival (95% in both arms) or local-regional recurrence-free survival, with both arms hovering in the 90-92% level. And patients treated with both therapeutic modes paid a price in adverse events (AEs), Ma reported, noting that grade 3 to 4 mucositis was observed in 18.9% of patients on chemoradiation but in just 9.7% of those on radiation therapy alone. A similar story in AEs was observed for leukopenia, neutropenia, nausea (0.6% vs 13% grade 3-4), vomiting (1.2% vs 14.8%), anorexia (4.8% vs 29%), and weight loss. That differential in AEs was reflected in quality of life measurements, with better scores in the radiation-only group as far as their global health status, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-07T05:44:46-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Docetaxel plus radiation new standard of care in cisplatin-ineligible head and neck cancer

Source: www.healio.com Author: Devin McLaughlin Perspective author: Marshall Posner, MD Docetaxel prolonged DFS (disease free survival) and OS (overall survival) when added to radiation for cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to study results presented at ASCO Annual Meeting. The addition of docetaxel also did not appear to worsen quality of life at 6 months, researchers concluded. “This now represents the new reference standard of care for cisplatin-ineligible patients planned for chemoradiotherapy,” Vanita Noronha, MD, of the department of medical oncology at Tata Memorial Center in Mumbai, India, said during a presentation. Background and methods Docetaxel has shown promise in phase 1 and phase 2 studies among patients unsuitable for cisplatin — a standard therapy in chemoradiation for locally advanced HNSCC, according to Noronha. However, limited prospective data exist in this setting. The open-label, randomized phase 3 study by Noronha and colleagues examined docetaxel as a radiosensitizer among 356 cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced HNSCC set for treatment with radical or adjuvant chemoradiation. Researchers randomly assigned patients to radiation alone (n = 176) or with concurrent docetaxel dosed at 15 mg/m2 weekly for up to seven cycles (n = 180). Patients in the docetaxel group received a median six cycles of the treatment. The radiotherapy-alone and combination therapy groups had similar baseline characteristics, including median age (63 years vs. 61 years), ECOG performance status (59.7% vs. 50.6%) and reasons for cisplatin ineligibility (low creatinine clearance, 26.7% vs. 26.1%; hearing loss, 42.6% vs. 45%; ECOG [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-05T21:07:39-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Single-Port Robotic Arm a Gamechanger for Throat Cancer Patients

Author: Lissete Hilton Source: www.physician-news.umiamihealth.org The da Vinci Single-Port robot is an example of how seemingly small advances in technology can drastically change cancer patients’ lives. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of UHealth – the University of Miami Health System, is among the only South Florida health systems to offer the da Vinci Single-Port robot, which surgeons at the cancer center use to remove tumors in the throat. "Being on the cutting edge of robotic surgical advancements that can be applied across multiple specialties allows us to provide the best possible outcomes to our patients," said Dipen J. Parekh, M.D., founding director and chair of the Desai Sethi Urology Institute and director of robotic surgery. Among the patients who benefit most from the new technology are those with squamous cell carcinomas of the tonsil and base of tongue caused by past infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), according to Donald T. Weed, M.D., co-leader of the Head and Neck Site Disease Group at Sylvester and vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “Those are the most common throat cancers that we see in non-smokers,” Dr. Weed said. Benefits of the Single-Arm Robot The single-port robot is a gamechanger compared to previous robotic technology because it provides better access through the narrow opening of the throat, said Francisco J. Civantos, M.D., the Virginia M. Horner Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Oncology Research. The older and more widely [...]

OCF News Team - B2022-06-02T07:32:29-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

‘A window into the body’: new tool available locally for fight against head and neck cancers

Source: www.theunion.com Author: Mary Beth TeSelle, Sponsored Content Cancers of the head and neck are not only devastating to those living with them, but also challenging to the physicians diagnosing and treating them. Spotting the cancer can be difficult due to the location, and monitoring the cancer as it grows is not possible without advanced equipment. The team at the Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Community Cancer Center now has a vital new tool in the fight against head and neck cancers — a scope that allows doctors to not only spot the cancer better, but also monitor its changes and growth over time. “In its first year, our new scope has aided in cancer detection and surveillance in over 25 local cancer patients,” says Clayton Hess, MD, radiation oncologist with SNMH. The technical name for the new scope is a flexible nasopharyngoscope. “It provides a window into the body,” says Dr. Hess. “Put simply, this nose-pharynx-scope is a fiber optic camera mounted on the tip of a thin robotic sleeve. It’s tip is lubricated and slid inside the nostril to allow doctors to see inside the head and neck by passing through the nose into the space behind the nose and mouth called the pharynx.” Images of the inside of the nose, sinuses, tonsils, tongue base, voice box, and the airway are projected through the camera onto a screen and recorded as digital movie files. Collected over time, these files allow the highest level of cancer detection and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-01T06:55:31-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Smoking behaviors often continued after treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Source: www.oncologynurseadvisor.com Author: Vicki Moore, PhD Many patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who were daily smokers at the time of diagnosis continued smoking following treatment, according to study results reported in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. The study was a prospective cohort analysis of patients treated at an academic tertiary care center from January 2009 through December 2017. Eligible patients had received a new diagnosis of HNSCC and were daily smokers at the time of diagnosis, with a habit of 5 cigarettes smoked per day for 5 or more years. The researchers performing the study collected demographic and clinical data for these patients, as well as data from patient reports of smoking-related behaviors. Those included in the study had 24 months of post-treatment follow-up data. A total of 89 smokers with HNSCC had completed follow-up and were included in the analysis. They had a mean age at enrollment of 60.1 years. Multiple racial and ethnic groups were represented in the study population. Approximately half of the patients had been treated with surgery (50.6%), while others received chemoradiotherapy (49.4%). The oropharynx was the primary tumor site in 39.3% of patients, compared with the larynx in 23.6% and the oral cavity in 22.5%. Patients had a mean smoking habit of 14.7±10.0 cigarettes smoked per day and a mean duration of 23.1±18.6 years of tobacco use. At 6 months after treatment, 58.4% of the patients continued smoking. The percentage of patients still smoking at 12 months was 52.8%, at [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-06-01T06:46:49-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|