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Charting the path from infection to cancer

Source: www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin Author: Eleanor Mayfield Few people associate infection with cancer, but close to one-fifth of all cancers in the world are caused by infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria, and other microbes. In developing countries, the number is higher—about one in four—while in industrialized countries, such as the United States, it is about one in 12. Infectious agents that can cause cancer are extremely common, infecting millions of people around the world. Yet it is rare and takes a long time for an infection to develop into cancer. “You need a lot of things to happen, or not happen, to get from an infection to cancer,” said Dr. Douglas R. Lowy, chief of NCI’s Laboratory of Cellular Oncology and a leader in the molecular biology of tumor viruses. The microbes responsible for most of the global burden of infection-associated cancer are: the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which causes gastric cancer; cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which cause cervical cancer and other cancers; and the hepatitis B and C viruses, which cause liver cancer. These four microbes alone cause more than 15 percent of all cancers worldwide. Other cancers known to be associated with infectious agents include leukemia and lymphoma; anal, penile, vaginal, and vulvar cancer; and tongue and throat cancers. Last week, researchers reported new evidence linking aggressive prostate tumors to a virus. Role of the Immune System Microbes can lead to cancer by a variety of mechanisms that are not yet fully understood, explained Dr. Allan Hildesheim, chief [...]

2009-09-23T08:59:07-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Prospective analysis of outcomes and complications of 300 consecutive microvascular reconstructions

Source: Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2009;11(4):235-239 Authors: Michael J. Nuara, MD; Cara L. Sauder, MA, CCC-SLP; Daniel S. Alam, MD Objective: To prospectively follow up patients requiring microvascular reconstruction of head and neck defects to determine preoperative factors predictive of surgical complications. Methods: A prospectively collected database comprising 300 consecutive microvascular head and neck reconstructions performed by a single surgeon (D.S.A.) in a tertiary care hospital over a 6-year period was reviewed in a retrospective manner. Data collected included preoperative medical and surgical history (presence of documented cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension) and previous cancer treatment (surgery or radiation therapy). Postoperative data, including early or late complications, hematocrit during hospitalization, and functional status, were also collected. A multiple linear regression was used to identify predictors of surgical complications and secondarily crossed to determine the strength of the prediction. Statistical significance was set at P = .05. Results: Patients were stratified into 4 groups based on (1) previous radiation therapy, (2) previous surgery, (3) no previous radiation therapy or surgery, and (4) both previous radiation therapy and previous surgery, with an increased predictability of complications with both. Diabetes also added to the predictability of complications, with a smaller effect. Cardiac disease and hypertension were not predictive. Conclusions: Previous radiation therapy and surgery are positive predictors for wound complications after microvascular reconstruction. Diabetes may add further risk in this setting. Author Affiliations: Head and Neck Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio (Drs Nuara and Alam); and Division of Otolaryngology, University of [...]

2009-09-22T06:16:25-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration for the assessment of cervical metastases

Source: Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2000;126:1091-1096 Authors: Marco Knappe, MD et al. Objective: To assess the value of ultrasonography (US) combined with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology for the investigation of lymph node metastases in patients with head and neck cancer. Design: Comparison of clinical examination (palpation) and preoperative US-FNA examination results of cervical nodes in a sample of patients with head and neck cancer. The histological features of the neck dissection specimens are used to validate these 2 variables. Setting: A head and neck oncology service in a tertiary referral hospital. Patients: A consecutive sample of 56 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, first seen between April 1, 1996, and July 30, 1998, who had neck dissections performed after the US-FNA examination. Intervention: Cervical US-FNA preoperatively, followed by elective or therapeutic radical modified or selective neck dissection. Main Outcome Measures: The histological examination results of subsequent neck dissection specimens are used to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of US-FNA for individual nodes. Second, the results of node staging by clinical examination and US-FNA examination are compared. Results: The sensitivity was 89.2%; specificity, 98.1%; and accuracy, 94.5%. Correct node stages were obtained in 52 (93%) of the patients using US-FNA compared with 34 (61%) using palpation. Conclusions: Ultrasonography combined with FNA is a highly accurate technique for the investigation of cervical lymph node metastases. A more accurate diagnosis may result in more appropriate treatment, particularly in a setting with limited resources. Retropharyngeal nodes, micrometastases, and lymph nodes [...]

2009-09-22T06:11:47-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Head, neck cancer treatment often not completed

Source: www.ajc.com/health Author: staff Incomplete and interrupted radiation treatment is a common problem among Medicare patients with head and neck cancer, a new study has found. Researchers analyzed data from 5,086 Medicare patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer between 1997 and 2003 and found that nearly 40 percent of them experienced interruptions in radiation therapy or failed to complete the course of therapy. People who had surgery before radiation treatment were more likely to complete the treatment without interruption than were those who did not have surgery (70 percent versus 52 percent). People with co-existing illnesses, those who had undergone chemotherapy and those whose disease had spread to surrounding lymph nodes were less likely to do so, the study found. The findings are in the September issue of Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery. "Surgical patients may be more likely to complete radiotherapy for several reasons," wrote Megan Dann Fesinmeyer, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and her research colleagues. "First, characteristics that make patients good candidates for surgery may also make them more likely to complete radiotherapy. Because comorbidities are known to decrease survival in patients with head and neck cancer, healthier patients may be chosen by surgeons to complete more rigorous treatments (e.g., surgery in addition to radiotherapy)." The study authors added that people "willing to undergo major surgery to treat their disease may also be more motivated to complete a full course of uninterrupted radiation therapy, despite any toxic effects of [...]

2009-09-22T06:05:35-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Speaking, eating possible after tonsil cancer surgery with reconstruction

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: press release A new technique for reconstructing the palate after surgery for tonsil cancer maintained patients' ability to speak clearly and eat most foods, a new study shows. The technique, developed at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, is described in the September Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. "This is the area that triggers swallowing, that separates the mouth from the nasal cavity. It affects speech and eating – typically, patients have difficulty eating when they have this kind of tumor and undergo surgery. We can remove the cancer, but there are major quality of life issues," says study author Douglas Chepeha, M.D., M.S.P.H., associate professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery and director of the microvascular program at the University of Michigan Health System. Tonsil cancer develops in the back of the throat, which means surgery could include parts of the palate, the tongue and the jaw. Traditional reconstruction efforts have meant taking a large, round piece of tissue to plug the hole left when the tumor is removed. But this impairs the way the palate and tongue function, and does not restore the complex components of the throat that allow a person to speak and swallow. With the new technique, surgeons first create a tube from the remaining palate by attaching the palate to the back part of the throat, next to where the tumor was removed. This tube separates the mouth from the nasal cavity and closes during swallowing, allowing [...]

2009-09-22T06:01:18-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Smoking ban heart gains ‘massive’

Source: news.bbc.co.uk Author: staff Bans on smoking in public places have had a bigger impact on preventing heart attacks than ever expected, data shows. Smoking bans cut the number of heart attacks in Europe and North America by up to a third, two studies report. This "heart gain" is far greater than both originally anticipated and the 10% figure recently quoted by England's Department of Health. The studies appear in two leading journals - Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Heart attacks in the UK alone affect an estimated 275,000 people and kill 146,000 each year. Big impact Earlier this month it was announced that heart attack rates fell by about 10% in England in the year after the ban on smoking in public places was introduced in July 2007 - which is more than originally anticipated. But the latest work, based on the results of numerous different studies collectively involving millions of people, indicated that smoking bans have reduced heart attack rates by as much as 26% per year. Second-hand smoke is thought to increase the chances of a heart attack by making the blood more prone to clotting, reducing levels of beneficial "good" cholesterol, and raising the risk of dangerous heart rhythms. Dr James Lightwood, of the University of California at San Francisco, led the Circulation study that pooled together 13 separate analyses. His team found that heart attack rates across Europe and North America started to drop immediately following implementation of anti-smoking laws, [...]

2009-09-22T05:10:54-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Zila completes merger with Tolmar

Source: www.earthtimes.org Author: press release Zila, Inc. today announced the completion of the merger with a subsidiary of Tolmar Holding, Inc. Pursuant to the merger agreement between the companies, at the effective time of the merger all outstanding shares of Zila’s common stock were converted into the right to receive $0.45 per share in cash. As a result of the transaction, Zila has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Tolmar Holding, Inc., which also owns Tolmar, Inc., a U.S. based privately held, pharmaceutical research, development, manufacturing and commercial operations company. Tolmar Holding, Inc. expects Zila to continue as a stand alone business unit. Effective with the close of trading today, Zila’s common stock has ceased to be traded on the Nasdaq Market.

2009-09-21T06:03:07-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Where cancer progress is rare, one man says no

Source: nytimes.com Author: Gardiner Harris Politicians and researchers have predicted for nearly four decades that a cure for cancer is near, but cancer death rates have hardly budged and most new cancer drugs cost a fortune while giving patients few, if any, added weeks of life. For this collective failure, the man atop the nation’s regulatory agency for new cancer drugs increasingly — and supporters say unfairly — gets the blame: Dr. Richard Pazdur. Patient advocates have called Dr. Pazdur, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s cancer drug office, a murderer, conservative pundits have vilified him as an obstructionist bureaucrat, and guards are now posted at the agency’s public cancer advisory meetings to protect him and other committee members. “The industry is not producing that many good drugs, so now they’re looking for scapegoats in Rick Pazdur and the F.D.A.,” said Ira S. Loss, who follows the drug industry for Washington Analysis, a service for investors. In 10 years at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Pazdur, 57, has helped to loosen approval standards for cancer medicines and made it easier for dying patients to get experimental drugs. But he demands that drug makers prove with near certainty that their products are beneficial, a requirement that he repeated at a public advisory hearing on Sept. 1 in the slow, loud tones of someone disciplining a dog. After he spoke, the committee of experts voted to reject both drugs. Critics say that Dr. Pazdur’s resolve has cost thousands of lives [...]

2009-09-16T05:02:16-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Going up in smoke

Source: www.abs-cbnnews.com (Philippines) Author: Adel Gabot Who would have thought graphic, disturbing pictures, like those showing a dead fetus lying amidst cigarette butts, or gangrenous feet, or ugly, bleeding mouth sores, or throats bulging with massive red tumors or black lung tissue would be so widely distributed, and even legally mandated? I’m talking about cigarette packaging, of course. Those of you smokers who travel have seen these pictures on cigarette packs abroad. In Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, everywhere. These caring and enlightened governments have long ago made it a law that cigarettes packaging must carry graphic images of diseases and the effects of tobacco on our health, in an aggressive effort to scare people off smoking. The more graphic the pictures, the better to convince people to kick the habit. Canada, which started doing this in 2000 with a picture of mouth cancer, is now contemplating upping the ante by putting the actual deathbed photos of anti-smoking activist Barb Tarbox, as she looked, emaciated, and withered just before her recent death from cancer. Their research has shown that the photos elicit an even more intense response from smokers than the usual diseased body parts. More recently, the United States, which had limited health warnings on cigarette packaging to a short, small text-only message from the Surgeon General on the side of the box, is now about to implement similar graphic pictorial warnings on 50% of the front and back of the pack. President Barack Obama, who is [...]

2009-09-16T04:52:36-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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BioVex agrees SPA with the FDA for a pivotal phase III study with OncoVEX (GM-CSF) in head and neck cancer

Source: news.prnewswire.com Author: press release BioVex Inc, a biotechnology company developing clinical stage treatments for cancer and the prevention of infectious disease, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the design of a single, pivotal, Phase III clinical trial evaluating its lead product, OncoVEX (GM-CSF), for the first-line treatment of patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. The study is the second the Company has agreed with the FDA under the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) procedure and highlights the broad potential utility of BioVex's first-in-class cancer destroying virus technology. The first SPA was in melanoma under which BioVex is currently conducting a pivotal Phase III trial. Patients with head and neck cancer often present with locally advanced, bulky disease that is too large, or too close, to vital organs to remove surgically. These patients typically undergo combination radiation and chemotherapy treatment, in some cases with additional surgery. Patients who present with tumor-containing lymph nodes are particularly difficult to treat and approximately half of these patients relapse within two years. Philip Astley-Sparke, President & CEO, for BioVex said: "The announcement of our second SPA governing a Phase III study demonstrates the breadth of the commercial opportunity with OncoVEX . In addition to treating metastatic disease as is the intention in our ongoing Phase 3 study in melanoma, following multiple systemic responses in Phase II, OncoVEX also has considerable potential utility in treating discrete solid tumor masses across multiple indications including those that are [...]

2009-09-15T14:20:04-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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