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Invasion characteristics of oral tongue cancer: frequency of reporting and effect on survival in a population-based study

Source: Cancer, June 23, 2009 Author: Michael Goodman et al. Background: The 2000 College of American Pathologists (CAP) guidelines recommend that a characterization of carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, including tongue cancer, should include depth of invasion (DI) and the presence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) or perineural invasion (PNI). Methods: This study included patients who were diagnosed with cancer of the oral tongue, who underwent tumor resection, and who were reported to either the Metropolitan Atlanta and Rural Georgia Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry or the Los Angeles SEER registry. The authors assessed the completeness of pathology reporting with respect to the documentation of PNI or LVI and DI. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine factors that influenced reporting while taking into consideration clustering of observations within the hospitals. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were conducted to examine the impact of tumor invasion characteristics on mortality while controlling for other prognostic factors. Results: DI reporting increased from 13% between 1997 and 1999 to 23% between 2000 and 2004 after the CAP issued its recommendations; whereas mode of invasion (the presence of LVI and/or PNI) reporting for the same period increased from 13% to 38%. The observed increase in reporting was most pronounced in the first 2 years (2000 and 2001) and appeared to decline again afterward. Tumor invasion >3 mm in depth and the presence of PNI were among the strongest predictors of survival in multivariate analyses. Conclusions: The current results indicated the importance of reporting [...]

2009-07-03T17:46:33-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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The prognostic significance of histological features in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Source: J Oral Pathol Med, June 25, 2009 Authors: S R Larsen et al. Background: Different factors predict nodal metastasis, recurrence and survival in oral cancer. The aim was to assess the prognostic value of histological features related to the primary tumour. Methods: A total of 144 patients surgically treated at Odense University Hospital for oral cancer between 1999 and 2004 were included in the study. Postoperative radiation therapy was given in case of close and involved margins or high TNM stages (UICC 1997). Median follow-up time was 38 months. All surgical resections were reviewed and 22 histological characteristics were assessed. Results: The predominant sites were floor of mouth (FOM, 39%) and lateral tongue (35%). Fifty-nine per cent had UICC97 stage I-II disease. Five-year cause-specific survival was observed in 65%. Nodal involvement at diagnosis was observed in 36% which was significantly related to grade, neural and vascular invasion; surgical margins and increasing tumour depth. A cut-off value of 2 mm (4 mm for FOM) separated patients without and with nodal metastasis at the time of diagnosis. However, on multivariate analysis, neck disease was only associated with tumour depth and grade. Cox analysis of local recurrence in the oral cavity over time showed that tumour diameter and surgical margins were significant predictors while cause-specific survival was related to diameter, depth of invasion, surgical margins and extracapsular spread (ECS). Conclusions: Tumour depth and grade were strong prognostic factors for nodal metastasis, independently of other histological features. Tumour diameter and margins independently predict [...]

2009-07-03T17:40:45-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Improved oral tumor surgery reduces disfigurement

Source: taiwanjournal.nat.gov.tw Author: staff Traditional oral cancer surgeries involve entering the affected area through the lower lip, causing the patient's lower lip to be disfigured in some cases. The patient may suffer from strange sensations as well as losing balance on both sides of the lower lip, making it impossible for them to fully purse their lips. A modified oral cancer surgery technique applied by the Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Medicine at the Dalin Branch of the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Chiayi County requires no cutting into the patient's lower lip, and thus leaves no disfigurement to the upper and lower lips of the patient. This wonderful news is sure to bring a smile to patients. The Dalin Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital says that oral cancer ranks fourth of the 10 most prevalent cancers among males in Taiwan, and the number of patients with this type of cancer is increasing each year. The hospital noted that 50% of the patients who had undergone the traditional surgical method were not able to fully close their lips, making other patients on the surgery list less likely to go through with such treatment. But their faces will be relatively less disfigured if the modified surgical technique is adopted. Dr. Lee Qing-chi says that the modified surgical technique calls for making a surgical incision under the chin and then excising the tumor from this angle. Cosmetic surgeons will follow through to reconstruct the skin flap in the area, which [...]

2009-07-03T05:13:33-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Taste, odor intervention

Source: speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com Author: staff Cancer and its therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, may directly alter and damage taste and odor perception, possibly leading to patient malnutrition, and in severe cases, significant morbidity, according to a Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center compilation of various existing studies [Journal of Supportive Oncology, 7(2): 58-65]. One of the purposes of the study, said Andrea Dietrich, PhD, professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) at Virginia Tech, is to provide researchers and physicians with a better understanding of the types and causes of taste and odor dysfunctions so that they can develop treatments for these conditions and improve the quality of life of their patients. According to Susan Duncan, PhD, RD, professor of food science and technology at Virginia Tech, a bad taste in the mouth can lead to poor nutrition because patients avoid eating. Approximately two thirds of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy report altered sensory perception, such as decreased or lost taste acuity or metallic taste. Altered sensory perception causes psychological anxiety and malnutrition, and thus negatively impacts the chances of survival for cancer patients, as reported in an earlier study conducted by Duke University. Dr. Dietrich, an expert on water quality and treatment, as well as the taste and odor assessment of water, has expanded upon her knowledge of this field to include such assessments in cancer patients. She worked with Jae Hee Hong, Dr. Duncan, and Brian T. Stanek of the Virginia Tech Food Science and Technology [...]

2009-07-03T05:07:36-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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New products ingenious or insidious?

Source: www.mailtribune.com Author: John Darling The use of smokeless tobacco in Jackson County has steadily risen in recent years among teens and adults — and now, officials fear the introduction earlier this year of new, candy-flavored "dissolvable tobacco" lozenges will make matters worse. Called Orbs, the pellets, which look and taste like breath mints, contain as much nicotine as a cigarette and could cause cancer of the mouth and throat, said Jane Stevenson, tobacco program coordinator for the county. Among eighth-grade males in Jackson County, use of smokeless tobacco jumped from 2 percent in 2001 to 7 percent in 2006, reported Stevenson. Among 11th-grade males, it rose from 10 percent in 2001 to 16 percent in 2006. Among adults here, 3 percent use smokeless tobacco. These figures are 1 to 4 percent higher than the state rates. "The increase of smokeless tobacco use here among teens is significant and alarming — and dissolvable tobacco is just as addictive as smoking," said Stevenson. "They are packaged to look hip and trendy and they carry the Camel logo. Usually, people are very loyal to their tobacco brand." The introduction of dissolvable tobacco pellets is in response to new laws prohibiting smoking in bars, restaurants and the workplace, said Mike Welch, owner of Puff's Magazine & Fine Tobacco, an Ashland smoke shop. The target market for dissolvable pellets, Welch added, is people who buy low-end generic cigarettes. His store won't be selling them, he said, because too many of his customers are concerned [...]

2009-07-03T05:00:33-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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New biomarker method could increase the number of diagnostic tests for cancer

Source: news.biocompare.com Author: staff A team of researchers has demonstrated that a new method for detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers in body fluids may ultimately make it possible to screen multiple biomarkers in hundreds of patient samples, thus ensuring that only the strongest biomarker candidates will advance down the development pipeline. The researchers have developed a method with the potential to increase accuracy in detecting real cancer biomarkers that is highly reproducible across laboratories and a variety of instruments so that cancer can be caught in its earliest stages. The results of the Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment for Cancer (CPTAC) study, which is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and partner organizations, appeared online June 28, 2009, in Nature Biotechnology. "These findings are significant because they provide a potential solution for eliminating one of the major hurdles in validating protein biomarkers for clinical use. Thousands of cancer biomarkers are discovered every day, but only a handful ever makes it through clinical validation. This is a critical roadblock because biomarkers have the potential to allow doctors to detect cancer in the earliest stages, when treatment provides the greatest chances of survival," said John E. Niederhuber, M.D., NCI director. "The critical limiting factor to date in validating biomarkers for clinical use has been the lack of standardized technologies and methodologies in the biomarker discovery and validation process, and this research may solve that dilemma." The collaborative and multi-institute nature of this work was critical [...]

2009-07-01T19:17:40-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Researchers pinpoint a new enemy for tumor-suppressor P53

Source: biocompare.com Author: staff Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have identified a protein that marks the tumor suppressor p53 for destruction, providing a potential new avenue for restoring p53 in cancer cells. The new protein, called Trim24, feeds p53 to a protein-shredding complex known as the proteasome by attaching targeting molecules called ubiquitins to the tumor suppressor, the team reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition. "Targeting Trim24 may offer a therapeutic approach to restoring p53 and killing tumor cells," said senior author Michelle Barton, Ph.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The discovery is based on an unusual approach to studying p53, which normally forces potentially cancerous cells to kill themselves and is shut down or depleted in most human cancers. Studies of the p53 protein and gene tend to focus on cancer cell lines or tumors, where the dysfunction already is established, Barton said. "We wanted to purify p53 from normal cells to better understand the mechanisms that regulate it." The team developed a strain of mice with a biochemical tag attached to every p53 protein expressed. After first assuring that the tagged p53 behaved like normal p53, the team then used the tag, or hook, to extract the protein. "We could then identify proteins that were attached to p53, interacting with it, through mass spectrometry," Barton said. They found Trim24, a protein previously unassociated with p53 that is [...]

2009-06-30T16:06:34-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Blueberries: cancer-fighting flowers in disguise

Source: www.examiner.com Author: Julie LeBlanc                                                         I can’t say I’ve been one for gardening. Or just liking plants, in general, for that matter. I’m the person that killed two rose bushes within two weeks while living in the school dormitories last year. It’s things like this that make you contemplate becoming a super-villain. Even I was amazed to find out that blueberries are not, in fact, berries at all. They’re not even fruit. Reference.com claims they are “epigynous fruits” which, aside from having a name that could tongue-tie Mr. Ed, means that they are actually flowers. Tiny, blue, delicious flowers that go fabulously with vanilla ice cream. Instead of parts like the stamen and petals falling off when the bud is ready to ripen, these organs stay attached and actually form alongside the plant ovary to create these little “false fruits.” Other veggies in this genre of plants include cucumbers, melons, bananas and figs. Sneaky little buggers. “The health properties of blueberries” or “Why you need another reason to eat these for dessert”: Containing only about 40 calories in ½ a cup, blueberries have ascended to the superfood pantheon which includes, among other things, açai berries, red wine and plums. Like their cancer-fighting counterparts, blueberries contain high levels of anthocyanins and antioxidants, two phytonutrients which amp up the body’s immune system and to detoxify harmful chemicals. Some species even contain reservatrol, another phytonutrient that aids in fighting cancer and Alzheimer’s.  Red grapes and red wines are well-known for containing high [...]

2009-06-30T04:38:14-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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New cancer treatment shows promise in testing

Source: nytimes.com Author: Nicholas Wade A new method of attacking cancer cells, developed by researchers in Australia, has proved surprisingly effective in animal tests. The method is intended to sidestep two major drawbacks of standard chemotherapy: the treatment’s lack of specificity and the fact that cancer cells often develop resistance. In one striking use of the method, reported online Sunday in Nature Biotechnology, mice were implanted with a human uterine tumor that was highly aggressive and resistant to many drugs. All of the treated animals were free of tumor cells after 70 days of treatment; the untreated mice were dead after a month. The lead researchers, Jennifer A. MacDiarmid and Himanshu Brahmbhatt, say their company, EnGeneIC of suburban Sydney, has achieved a similar outcome in dogs with advanced brain cancer. “We have been treating more than 20 dogs and have spectacular results,” Dr. Brahmbhatt said. “Pretty much every dog has responded and some are in remission.” These experiments have not yet been published. Cancer experts who were not involved with the research say that the new method is of great interest, but that many treatments that work well in laboratory mice turn out to be ineffective in patients. Bert Vogelstein, a leading cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins University, called the method “a creative and promising line of research,” but noted the general odds against success. “Unfortunately our track record shows that far less than 1 percent of our promising approaches actually make the grade in patients,” he said. The EnGeneIC [...]

2009-06-28T20:17:08-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Oral health suffers in down economy

Source: www.myjournalcourier.com Author: Katie Anderson As layoffs and furlough days continue to eat away at pocket books, local dentists say they’ve noticed a decrease in the area’s appetite for oral health care. Dental health care experts are concerned. “I think a lot of preventative care has become affected by people’s economic situations,” said Randall Lawson, a doctor of dental surgery and owner of College Avenue Dental in Jacksonville. “I have two hygienists that do preventive care, cleanings, et cetera, and they have seemed to become less busy as of late.” He said although the summer time is busier due to children being out of school, his office has seen more cancellations than usual. William Weller, a doctor of dental surgery with an office on West Lafayette Avenue, has seen a similar trend at his practice. “Whenever we have a downturn or anything like this there are several things that happen,” Dr. Weller said. “Probably the most significant is people looking for ways to cut corners — looking to delay or postpone their six-month checkups. It’s kind of unfortunate because yes, they’ll save 100 bucks on a checkup but they’ll pay later.” Dr. Weller said the people he and his fellow dentists treat in the area, for the most part, “are really honest people.” “If they don’t have the money they don’t want to come in and incur a debt,” he explained. “Which is laudable to some degree, but something that we worry about.” They worry for many reasons. One, most [...]

2009-06-28T16:49:49-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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