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No need to fear!

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff Patients with dental phobias will now be able to relax in the dentist’s chair, as new brain calming technology can help de–stress those with even the worst fears. New equipment developed by neuroscientists in America is being introduced in dental surgeries in the UK to help calm patients who suffer anxiety during treatments. The new equipment, named NuCalm, induces a state of deep relaxation using systems know as Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES). A generator is connected to a headset worn by the patient and transmits relaxing electrical and sound frequencies to the brain. After five minutes brain waves slow down to a state which is associated with meditation, sleep and deep relaxation. Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter said of the new technology: “This is a great step forward. A recent survey we conducted for National Smile Month found that one in four people do not visit the dentist because of a phobia. If people know they will be ok when they’re in the chair, that they won’t be overcome by anxiety, it could be enough to encourage more people to go on a regular basis.” Dr Carter added: “It is vital people go for regular dental check–ups. Dentists are at the forefront of oral health–care and are the best source for discovering serious problems such as mouth cancer and gum disease. “Mouth cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the UK, with 5,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. If [...]

2010-05-31T06:26:42-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Smoking women at greater risk

Source: www.deccanherald.com Author: Poornima Nataraj Surrendering to temptation of having a puff of nicotine to release tension, not only gives momentary pleasure but inflicts a long lasting damage on your biological system. There has been no decrease in the number of deaths due to tobacco use, despite large-scale efforts to educate masses on the health hazards of tobacco consumption. And, what's more concerning is the fact that not only men but a considerable percentage of women are also succumbing to the addiction at the risk of serious health complications. The World Health Organisation’s theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day focusses on "gender and tobacco, with emphasis on marketing to women." It highlights the harmful effects of tobacco marketing and smoke on women and girls. Dr Prathima Murthy, Professor of Psychiatry and Head of De-addiction Centre at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS), informs that any form of tobacco use harms every organ of one's body. "Chewing tobacco has a certain cultural acceptance in our country, leading to a high prevalence of oral cancer. However, smoking has much wider ill-effects, especially for women who are more prone as their biological system is more vulnerable to such toxic substances," she says. Dr Murthy says women tend to take up smoking to relieve stress. There is also a rage to stay slim through smoking with the low nicotine content cigarettes. Irrespective of the percentage of nicotine content, there are other harmful substances which do not reduce the severity [...]

2010-05-31T06:16:53-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Tobacco consumption among youngsters a concern

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com Author: Tausif Alam The rise of tobacco consumption among children and young adults between 10 to 17 years has become a major cause of concern in the city. In the wake of it, cases of oral cancer among children are also on rise, say experts. According to the data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), prevalence of smoking among children in India, between the age group of 13-15 years, is 5.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent in male and female respectively. The consumption of tobacco in different forms by children varies between 16.2 per cent and 7.2 per cent in male and female respectively. "Children between the age group of 10-17 years have been consuming tobacco mostly in the form mawa, pan masala and gutkha. The major cause of addiction among children is cheap availability of tobacco products. Though our law restricts selling of tobacco products to minors, the rule is not observed stringently, and minors have easy access to these products," said Kalyan Gangwal, founder member of the Sarva Jeev Mangal Pratishthan. He added that prevalence of tobacco consumption is mostly seen among slum children. The uses of mawa, pan masala and gutkha can cause oral submucous fibrosis, a pre-cancerous lesion which can lead to cancer. The symptoms are the difficulty in opening mouth and inability to tolerate hot, spicy food. Now, a large number of cases of oral submucous fibrosis have been found among youngsters who consume tobacco, said Gangwal. "The children mostly inherit [...]

2010-05-31T06:09:38-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Scientists find genes associated with throat cancer

Source: www.physorg.com Author: staff Scientists from Singapore, China and USA have identified three new susceptibility genes in a genome-wide association study of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The study, led by the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and the Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Centre, identified genetic risk factors of NPC that advance the understanding of the important role played by host genetic variation in influencing the susceptibility to this cancer. NPC is a type of cancer that forms in the epithelial lining of the nasopharynx, the area of the upper throat that lies behind the nose. It is particularly prevalent in southern China, such as Guangdong, with an occurrence rate of about 25 times higher than that in most regions of the world. NPC is therefore referred to as the Cantonese Cancer (Cantonese is a Chinese dialect spoken in and around the city of Guangzhou in Southern China). Led by Dr Liu Jianjun, Associate Director and Senior Group Leader of Human Genetics at the GIS, and Professor Yi-Xin Zeng, President of the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, the findings were published in Nature Genetics on May 30, 2010. To search for the genetic risk factors for NPC, the scientists carried out a comprehensive genetic analysis of the human genome in a large clinical sample of southern Chinese descent - approximately 5,000 patients and 5,000 controls. The researchers found that the genetic variation within the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and [...]

2010-05-31T06:04:46-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Garagiola, who quit, warns about chewing tobacco

Source: nytimes.com Author: George Vescey Joe Garagiola has been to too many funerals. Some of them were for friends who chewed tobacco, the way Garagiola used to do. Now Garagiola has been given the gift of time. He intends to use it to speak out against the habit of chewing tobacco. “I tell these guys, ‘You may not like what I say, but with lung cancer you die of lung cancer,’ ” Garagiola said the other day, with the zeal of a convert. “With oral cancer, you die one piece at a time. They operate on your neck, they operate on your jaw, they operate on your throat.” Garagiola is one of America’s gifted talkers — starting in bullpens and dugouts, moving on to broadcasting games, then doing game shows, the “Today” show. He is still talking. Last month he traveled to a Congressional hearing to speak against smokeless tobacco. The trip itself was a gesture of courage, because he was recovering from brain surgery for what he calls a nonmalignant ailment, which he said was not linked to the tobacco habit he beat 50 years ago. Last Friday, Garagiola received great news. After a CAT scan six months after surgery, doctors told him he was clear. He took a deep breath and celebrated by doing what he does best. Speaking about the lobbyists for new smokeless products, he said: “They tell you it’s a safe alternative, but my answer is, Hey, don’t jump out the 50th floor, jump out [...]

2010-05-29T11:07:43-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Advanced type of cancer radiation reduces side effects, but impact on controlling cancer is unclear

Source: www.sunherald.com Author: press release An advanced type of cancer radiation is more successful than traditional radiation in avoiding "dry mouth" when treating head and neck cancers, but it is unknown whether the treatment is better or worse at reducing the size of tumors, according to a new comparative effectiveness review funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The report finds that intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) leads to fewer cases of xerostomia, commonly known as dry mouth, than other types of radiation. Xerostomia, a potential side effect to radiation when salivary glands are damaged, can affect basic functions like chewing, swallowing and breathing; senses such as taste, smell and hearing; and can significantly alter a patient's appearance and voice. However, the report did not find evidence that IMRT is more successful than any other kind of radiation therapy in reducing tumors. Many scientists consider IMRT to be theoretically better able to target cancerous cells while sparing healthy tissues, but more research is needed, the report said. The comparative effectiveness review, Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Radiotherapy Treatments for Head and Neck Cancer, was authored by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BC/BS) Association, Technology Evaluation Center in Chicago. "The development of new technologies to treat cancer has been one of the true success stories of American medical research," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "This report provides patients and their doctors with more information about these advances, which they can use to make more informed choices about [...]

2010-05-27T21:12:29-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Clinical outcomes for T1-2N0-1 oral tongue cancer patients underwent surgery with and without postoperative radiotherapy

Source: 7thspace.com Authors: Su Jung Shim et al. Background: The aim of this study was to assess the results of curative surgery with and without radiotherapy in patients with T1-2N0-1 oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to evaluate survival and prognostic factors. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 86 patients with T1-2N0-1 OSCC who received surgery between January 2000 and December 2006. Fourteen patients (16.3%) received postoperative radiotherapy (PORT). Patient characteristics, tumor characteristics, treatment modality, failure patterns, and survival rates were analyzed. Results: The median follow-up was 45 months. The five-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 80.8% and 80.2%, respectively. Higher tumor grade and invasion depth [greater than or equal to] 0.5 cm were the significant prognostic factors affecting five-year OS and DFS (OS rate; 65% vs. 91%, p = 0.001 for grade; 66% vs. 92%, p = 0.01 for invasion depth: DFS rate; 69% vs. 88%, p = 0.005 for grade; 66% vs. 92%, p = 0.013 for invasion depth). In the risk group, there was no local failure in patients with postoperative radiotherapy. Conclusions: In T1-2N0-1 OSCC, factors that affected prognosis after primary surgery were higher tumor grade and deep invasion depth over 0.5 cm. Postoperative radiotherapy should be considered in early oral tongue cancer patients with these high-risk pathologic features. Authors: Su Jung Shim, Jihye Cha, Woong Sub Koom, Gwi Eon Kim, Chang Geol Lee, Eun Chang Choi, Ki Chang Keum Source: Radiation Oncology 2010, 5:43

2010-05-27T07:56:08-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Nano-bio-chip checks for oral cancer

Source: www.nanotech-now.com Author: press release The gentle touch of a brush on the tongue or cheek can help detect oral cancer with success rates comparable to more invasive techniques like biopsies, according to preliminary studies by researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas Health Science Centers at Houston and San Antonio and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A new test that uses Rice's diagnostic nano-bio-chip was found to be 97 percent "sensitive" and 93 percent specific in detecting which patients had malignant or premalignant lesions, results that compared well with traditional tests. The results of this study, which was led by John McDevitt, were published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. Oral cancer afflicts more than 300,000 people a year, including 35,000 in the United States alone. The five-year survival rate is 60 percent, but if oral cancer is detected early, that rate rises to 90 percent. "One of the key discoveries in this paper is to show that the miniaturized, noninvasive approach produces about the same result as the pathologists do," said Dr. McDevitt, whose group developed the novel nano-bio-chip technology. Dr. McDevitt and his team are working to create an inexpensive chip that can differentiate premalignant lesions from the 95 percent of lesions that will not become cancerous. The minimally invasive technique would deliver results in 15 minutes instead of several days, as lab-based diagnostics do now. Instead of an invasive, painful biopsy, the new procedure requires just a light brush of the lesion [...]

2010-05-23T16:01:08-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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Boehringer Ingelheim will announce preliminary data in the area of head and neck cancer

Source: pr-usa.net Author: press release Boehringer Ingelheim will announce preliminary data in the areas of head and neck cancer and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for one of the company's investigational compounds, BIBW 2992. These data will be presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago. BIBW 2992 is an orally-administered small molecule under development that irreversibly inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER1) and human epidermal receptor 2 (HER2) tyrosine kinases. BIBW 2992 data in head and neck cancer(1) New data will report preliminary best response analysis for 74/109 patients from an ongoing Phase 2 study of 124 patients with metastatic or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) who did not respond to platinum-containing therapy. In this study, patients were initially randomly assigned to either BIBW 2992 or cetuximab. Twenty-two percent of the 34 patients receiving BIBW 2992 experienced reduction in tumor size (measured as partial response), compared to 13 percent of the 40 patients receiving cetuximab. Preliminary safety analyses revealed diarrhea and skin-related adverse events as the most common adverse events associated with BIBW 2992. "Metastatic head and neck cancer has a very poor prognosis, and patients are in desperate need for new treatment options," says Tanguy Y. Seiwert, M.D., lead investigator of the trial, University of Chicago Medical Center. "These findings, while preliminary, are encouraging and warrant further investigation of BIBW 2992 in head and neck cancer."

2010-05-23T12:55:48-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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UConn scientist may have way to detect pre-tumor cancer

Source: www.theday.com Author: staff A University of Connecticut researcher thinks he might have found a way to find cancer even before it reveals itself in a tumor or other symptoms. Jim Rusling, professor of chemistry and cell biology at the UConn Health Center, has been working with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health to detect specific proteins found in the blood of those with prostate or oral cancer. These biomarker proteins are detectable in early stages of these cancers, so the researchers believe they can be used for earlier detection and prevention than is now possible. Rusling noted that the approach has an advantage over genetic testing, because that can only assess the risk of getting the disease, whereas measuring biomarkers can reveal the actual presence cancer. He described the project, funded by a $1.5 million NIH grant, in a recent issue of Analytical Chemistry.

2010-05-21T07:26:05-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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