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Coping With Fear of Cancer Recurrence

Source: health.clevelandclinic.org Author: staff Making it through cancer treatment can be a grueling process. And when it’s done, people want to “get back to their lives” as much as possible. But the fear of cancer coming back — or recurring — can make that process difficult. It’s natural for people who’ve lived (or are currently living) with cancer to be afraid of a recurrence. And it’s equally natural to want to get rid of that fear, especially when it interferes with quality of life. But well-meaning advice to “stay positive” may fall short. We spoke with psychologist Karen Hurley, PhD, about cancer anxiety: How to recognize it, tips for addressing it and what to do if it’s gotten bigger than you can handle. Redefining fear According to Dr. Hurley, the process of getting back on track after cancer treatment isn’t always easy. “There may be ways which you can re-engage with your goals, and there may be some goals that need to be changed or dropped altogether, which is a painful process, and one that requires time to sort through. “Making plans or cultivating hopes again feels vulnerable,” she continues. “If those dreams have been knocked over to the side once, what’s to stop that from happening again? It may have always been there, but there’s a new sensitivity to how vulnerable our plans for the future really are.” Dr. Hurley elaborates, “You may feel lost because no one can promise you that it won’t come back, even if you [...]

2023-07-29T13:16:04-07:00July, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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Smoking and HPV found to increase risk of head and neck cancer

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM Tobacco smoking and human papillomavirus (HPV) are both well-known risk factors for head and neck cancer, but there is ample evidence to show they can interact to increase still further the risk of contracting the disease, according to a study by scientists at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil and the University of Chile. An article on the study is published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. The results of the study clarify aspects of the molecular mechanisms involved in head and neck cancer, paving the way for novel strategies of prevention and treatment, or other interventions that could benefit patients. Head and neck cancer is a group of cancers of the mouth, nose, sinuses, tonsils, throat and thyroid. It affected some 830,000 people worldwide in 2020, causing the death of more than 50%. In Brazil it caused almost 21,000 deaths in 2019, according to the most recent data from the National Cancer Institute (INCA). Historically speaking, its main causes have been alcohol, tobacco and poor oral hygiene, but in recent decades HPV has become a significant risk factor, especially for younger people and relatively well-off patients. Head and neck cancer is now one of the fastest-rising types of cancer associated with HPV in the world. "Instead of continuing to analyze smoking and HPV as oncogenic factors separately, we set out to focus on their possible interaction." Enrique Boccardo, penultimate author of the article and professor in the Department [...]

2023-07-04T11:44:15-07:00July, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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Inpatient, discharge opioid doses often mismatched after head and neck surgery

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Charles Bankhead, Senior Editor, MedPage More than 80% of patients undergoing head and neck surgery received mismatched opioid prescriptions at discharge, exceeding or falling short of their inpatient prescriptions, a review of 1,705 cases showed. Almost two thirds of patients received discharge prescriptions that exceeded their inpatient prescription by more than 5 morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs). An additional 19.2% left the hospital with prescriptions that were more than 5 MMEs lower than what they received during their hospital stay. Patients with lower prescribed opioid doses at discharge had higher refill rates, suggesting the patients might have been undertreated, reported Zhonghui Guan, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, and co-authors in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. "The task of postsurgical opioid management is to control opioid underprescription as well as overprescription," the authors said of their findings. "We propose to prescribe discharge opioids with inpatient consumption in mind to provide patient-centered pain management. "A limitation of this study was the initial attempt to set 5 MME as the cutoff to determine mismatched opioid prescriptions," the team wrote. "More studies are needed to identify the proper range for discharge opioid prescription in clinical practice." Criticism About Inherent Limitations Emese Zsiros, MD, PhD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, who was not involved with the research, criticized the study, noting several limitations that add up to an "inherently flawed" publication. "Firstly, the fundamental premise of the paper, which asserts that postoperative patients [...]

2023-07-03T08:37:46-07:00July, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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In head and neck cancer, better outcomes seen in patients with overweight

Source: www.mdedge.com Author: Jennie Smith Patients with head and neck cancer and overweight saw better treatment response and survival after chemoradiation, compared with patients with the same type of cancer but a normal weight, a new study finds. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, are the latest to parse the complex relationship between body mass index (BMI) and treatment in cancers that is sometimes called the “obesity paradox.” The researchers compared outcomes among patients with normal weight, overweight, and obesity. While higher BMI is an established risk factor for many types of cancer and for cancer-specific mortality overall, studies in some cancers have shown that patients with higher BMI do better, possibly because excess BMI acts as a nutrient reserve against treatment-associated weight loss. Methods and results For their research, Sung Jun Ma, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, N.Y., and colleagues looked at records for 445 patients (84% men, median age 61) at Dr. Ma’s institution with nonmetastatic head and neck cancer who underwent chemoradiotherapy between 2005 and 2021. Patients were followed up for a median 48 months, and those with underweight at treatment initiation were excluded. The researchers found that overweight BMI (25-29.9 kg/m2) was associated with improved overall survival at 5 years (71% vs. 58% of patients with normal weight), as well as 5-year progression-free survival (68% vs. 51%). No overall or progression-free survival benefit link was seen in patients with a BMI of 30 or higher, in contrast to some previous studies of [...]

2023-06-30T18:09:32-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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7 Questions to ask your doctor if you’re Black with head and neck cancer

Source: www.everydayhealth.com Author: Oladimeji Ewumi, Medically Reviewed by Walter Tsang, MD of American College of Lifestyle Medicine Head and neck cancer affects the mouth, throat, or voice box, and is diagnosed in almost 800,000 people globally each year. This year in the United States, there were an estimated 54,540 new cases of oral and throat cancer. If you are a Black American recently diagnosed with head and neck cancer, it’s important to know that this cancer affects you differently than it does other people. Head and neck cancer has a 20 percent higher death rate in Black Americans than white Americans, as reported by the American Cancer Society. A study published in 2023 in the journal Cancers reported that Black people have worse overall survival rates for the different subtypes of head and neck cancers, are more likely to develop advanced forms of the disease, and usually require a longer duration of treatment than white people. Black Americans also receive less aggressive, appropriate, and timely treatments than white Americans with the same cancers, even when other factors such as insurance and tumor type are controlled, according to an analysis published in 2016 in the Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved. So, what is a Black person to do when faced with a diagnosis of head and neck cancer? "Knowledge is power, and asking the right questions can go a long way at the individual level to help your doctor learn new evidence," says Mihir Bhayani, MD, associate professor [...]

2023-06-29T16:03:35-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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Newcastle innovator LightOx makes new breakthroughs in mouth cancer treatment

Source: www.business-live.co.uk Author: Coreena Ford, Chronicle and Journal business writer A Newcastle company says it has made breakthroughs in the treatment of early-stage mouth cancers on the back of an Innovate UK funding programme. Based in Newcastle city centre, LightOx uses technologies to develop light-activated treatment that can improve outcomes for patients and reduce the need for surgery. As well as a drug development arm, the company has a research tools business that sells products for research purposes. With funding from Analysis for Innovators (A4I), a grant funding programme run by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, the company is developing new light-activated chemotherapy for the treatment of early-stage oral cancer. It is the first of its kind in the UK and is currently completing pre-clinical testing. The company’s new class of light-activated chemotherapy should be administered by dentists or trained clinicians, who will apply a gel to the affected area and activate the drug with light. LightOx directors say the ground-breaking treatment is quick, simple and involves fewer side effects than surgery. They say the non-invasive treatment also significantly improves the overall patient experience, and has the potential to revolutionise light-based therapeutic markets globally. It lacked the research and development expertise to explore its potential further, and with help from A4I and its large network of partner organisations, the firm worked with Oxford-based Central Laser Facility (CLF), an institution of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which gave the LightOx team access to its expertise and an unparalleled range [...]

2023-06-28T14:05:08-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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Research shows ‘substantial’ cardiovascular risk among patients with head and neck cancer

Source: www.healio.com Author: Drew Amorosi Key takeaways: Individuals with newly diagnosed HNSCC showed evidence of suboptimally controlled cardiovascular risk factors. Black race appeared associated with increased risk for uncontrolled cardiovascular risk factors. Individuals with newly diagnosed head and neck squamous cell carcinoma are at high risk for adverse cardiovascular events, results of a retrospective study of U.S. veterans showed. Findings from the analysis, published in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, indicate suboptimal control of multiple cardiovascular risk factors among these patients, leading to increased risk for incident stroke, myocardial infarction (MI) and all-cause mortality. “We hope that these findings bring awareness to the fact that patients with head and neck cancers have a substantial burden of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors and encourage providers, including oncologists and primary care physicians, to screen for and manage these risk factors to mitigate risk for cardiovascular events,” Lova Sun, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of hematology-oncology at Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, told Healio. “Overall, these findings highlight the cardiovascular risk in patients with HNSCC and underscore the critical need for targeted interventions to improve stratification and mitigation of cardiac risk in the growing population of HNSCC survivors.” Background The researchers hypothesized that patients with head and neck cancer may experience increased risk for cardiovascular events due to a number of shared risk factors and the use of cardiotoxic therapies to treat the disease. “Cardiovascular disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer, but our [...]

2023-06-23T04:37:49-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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‘How I knew I had throat cancer’: Four survivors share their symptoms

Source: www.mdanderson.org Author: Cynthia Demarco For high school football coach Mark Teague, the only symptom of throat cancer he noticed was a small lump beneath his jaw. “I’d been aware of it for a while,” says Teague, who was diagnosed with HPV-related throat cancer at age 49. “But I’d had sinus problems all my life, so I didn’t think anything of it. I just assumed it was another swollen lymph node.” George Brownfield had a similar experience. “I found a little lump on my neck one day while shaving,” says the senior systems analyst, who was diagnosed with the same disease at age 48. “I remember thinking, ‘Hey, why does that side of my neck look so puffy?’ and going to my general practitioner. He told me it was probably an infection and prescribed some antibiotics.” The most common throat cancer symptoms: painless neck lumps and swollen lymph nodes Mark and George’s experiences are not unusual. Most people with throat cancer don’t have any symptoms. But when they do, a swollen lymph node or a painless lump in the neck are among the most common. Why? “Lymph nodes are essentially tiny little sieves that capture dangerous particles circulating around our bodies,” explains head and neck cancer surgeon Miriam Lango, M.D. “Sometimes, cancer cells get caught in there and start growing in place. Eventually, they form tumors that can get big enough to grow out of the lymph nodes.” Other throat cancer symptoms, including (rarely) pain Other MD Anderson patients have [...]

2023-06-22T09:16:15-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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New research to develop AI to better predict risk of mouth cancer

Source: www.digitalhealth.net Author: Andrea Downey The University of Sheffield and Cancer Research UK have teamed up to develop artificial intelligence which will help predict the risk of mouth cancer. The study will look at the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to assist pathologists in spotting the disease, which has increased by 60% in the last 10 years. Samples of oral epithelial dysplasia (OED), pre-cancerous changes that can develop into cancer, along with five years of follow up data will be used to train AI algorithms. Currently, doctors must predict the likelihood of OED developing into cancer by assessing a patient’s biopsy on 15 different criteria to establish a score. This score then determines whether action is needed and what treatment pathway should be taken. But there are often huge variations in how patients with similar biopsy results are treated, researchers said. For example, one patient may be advised to undergo surgery and intensive treatment, while another patient may be monitored for further changes. Dr Ali Khurram, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Sheffield’s School of Clinical Dentistry, said: “The precise grading of OED is a huge diagnostic challenge, even for experienced pathologists, as it is so subjective. “Correct grading is vital in early oral cancer detection to inform treatment decisions, enabling a surgeon to determine whether a lesion should be monitored or surgically removed. “Machine learning and AI can aid tissue diagnostics by removing subjectivity, using automation and quantification to guide diagnosis and treatment. Until now [...]

2023-06-15T10:30:03-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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“Immunotherapy is keeping me alive” – John’s story

Source: www.icr.ac.uk Author: John Dabell On his daughter’s second birthday in 2009, John Dabell was diagnosed with advanced head and neck cancer. He went through extensive surgery and treatment and was on the road to recovery when he was diagnosed with cancer again – this time, a tumour in his throat. John was told he didn’t have long to live. But then he started immunotherapy. Here, he talks about its incredible impact and the opportunity it’s given him to spend more time with his wife and daughter. The first red flag telling me something was wrong was when my tongue started to swell. I soldiered on because I didn’t think there was anything sinister going on. That was a mistake. I started having difficulty eating and swallowing, but I put that down to my throat being sore. I was also extremely tired, but I had a young daughter at home and was busy being a primary school teacher. After about a month, things hadn’t improved. I found that I couldn’t utter my words in the same way and things started to get painful. Then my tongue inflated, and I went to see my GP, who recommended I see my dentist. My dentist immediately referred me to a head and neck specialist at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. My life changed forever A biopsy and MRI scan revealed that I had a tumour growing inside my tongue and it was stage four head and neck cancer. This knocked me for [...]

2023-06-15T05:51:09-07:00June, 2023|Oral Cancer News|
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