Oral Cancer Foundation News Team – A – Page 223

Dietary supplements: friend or foe?

Source: patient.cancerconsultants.com Author: Eleanor Mayfield With research pointing to pros and cons of vitamin and mineral supplements, these dietary decisions become increasingly complex. Here’s a quick quiz: 1. Are you a cancer patient or survivor? 2. Do you take any dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, or herbs? 3. Have you discussed with your doctor the pros and cons of using these supplements? If you answered yes to questions 1 and 2 and no to question 3, you’re not alone. A recent review in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that supplement use is widespread among cancer patients and longer-term survivors and that most don’t discuss their supplement use with their doctors. In fact, in different studies 64 to 81 percent of respondents reported using vitamin or mineral supplements. Up to 68 percent of doctors were unaware of supplement use by their patients. Cancer patients and survivors tend to use dietary supplements at higher rates than the rest of the U.S. population, the review found. Supplement use was highest among women, breast cancer survivors, and people with higher levels of education. People who take supplements generally believe that doing so will benefit their health. In studies included in the review, the reported reasons for supplement use included strengthening the immune system, helping cope with stress, improving the chance of a cure, and helping the user feel better. Users may assume that the supplements they take can’t do them any harm. Research findings suggest, however, that supplements can sometimes be harmful. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-18T13:11:44-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Speech and swallowing impairment after treatment for oral and oropharyngeal cancer

Source: Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(12):1299-1304 Authors: Maria-Mercedes Suarez-Cunqueiro, DDS, PhD et al. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of speech and swallowing impairment after radical surgery for oral and oropharyngeal cancer from the patient's viewpoint and to examine the association of these functional alterations with selected clinical characteristics regarding patients, tumors, and oncologic treatment. Design: Cross-sectional, multicenter study using a self-administered questionnaire. Setting: Forty-three hospitals in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Patients: A total of 3894 questionnaires about rehabilitation problems after treatment for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were sent to patients. Of these, 1652 were filled out and returned, and 1334 (80.8%) met the inclusion criteria. Main Outcome Measures: Morbidity associated with treatment of oral and oropharyngeal cancer. Results: Speech problems were reported by 851 patients (63.8%), and swallowing problems were reported by 1006 patients (75.4%). The variables that presented a significant association with speech and swallowing impairment were sex, tumor location, pTNM stages, stage of tumor, treatment modality, and reconstruction type. Conclusions: This survey, based on patient perception, suggests that those who undergo radiotherapy associated with the surgical removal of a tumor, have late-stage tumors (III-IV), or have tumors located in the floor of the mouth should be informed of the greater risk of persistent severe speech and swallowing problems. Authors: Maria-Mercedes Suarez-Cunqueiro, DDS, PhD; Alexander Schramm, DDS, MD, PhD; Ralf Schoen, DDS, MD, PhD; Juan Seoane-Lestón, DDS, MD, PhD; Xosé-Luis Otero-Cepeda, PhD; Kai-Hendrik Bormann, DDS; Horst Kokemueller, MD, DDS; Marc Metzger, MD, DDS; Pedro Diz-Dios, DDS, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-16T12:59:18-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Prevention of hearing loss in children receiving cisplatin chemotherapy

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 10.1200/JCO.2008.20.1160 Authors: David R. Freyer et al. To The Editor: Fouladi et al1 are to be congratulated for the recent publication of their study demonstrating that amifostine protects against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in children with average risk medulloblastoma. Despite limitations imposed by the study design (eg, use of a nonrandomized control group and heterogenous cranial irradiation techniques), the investigators nonetheless have made a valuable contribution to the growing field of pediatric cancer control research and to prevention of hearing loss in particular. First, they persisted in completing this study despite others that failed to demonstrate otoprotection by amifostine.2-4 Second, as the authors discuss, their positive results may be attributable to their use of a more dose-intensive schedule of amifostine, illustrating the critical need for cancer-control trials, like their disease-directed counterparts, to incorporate the most current and complete pharmacologic data for the drug under investigation. Finally, this study provides good evidence for adding amifostine to the growing list of agents used to prevent specific chemotherapeutic toxicities in pediatric oncology practice, including calcium leucovorin, mesna, cytokine growth factors, and, more recently, dexrazoxane. In so doing, the study strengthens the case for active development of other forms of chemoprotection as a useful supportive care strategy. At the same time, important questions remain, owing to the study’s focus on patients with medulloblastoma and selection of amifostine as the drug of interest. The cisplatin dose and schedule are somewhat different in this study (a lower cisplatin dose being given on a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-16T10:00:12-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Human Papillomavirus-16 modifies the association between fruit consumption and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Source: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 17, 3419-3426, December 1, 2008 Author: Mara S. Meyer et al. Human papillomavirus-16 (HPV-16) is a risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HPV-positive cancers have distinct disease cofactors and improved survival following treatment. There is conflicting evidence of a protective association of fruit consumption with HNSCC. As HPV-related disease is clinically distinct, we investigated whether the association between fruit consumption and HNSCC risk was modified by exposure to HPV-16. We studied 270 cases and 493 controls with fruit intake information and known HPV-16 antibody status. Cases were identified at nine Boston-area medical facilities between 1999 and 2003. Controls were randomly selected from the greater population and frequency matched to cases by age, gender, and town of residence. Controlling for age, gender, race, smoking, alcohol, total energy intake, body mass index, and education, the seronegative individuals had a significantly lower risk of HNSCC with increasing total fruit consumption [odds ratio (OR)tertile 2, 0.60; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.38-0.95; ORtertile 3, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.35-0.95] and specifically increasing citrus fruit consumption (ORtertile 2, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.97; ORtertile 3, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.37-0.96). However, among the seropositive, risk increased with greater fruit consumption (ORtertile 2, 2.27; 95% CI, 0.92-5.58; ORtertile 3, 1.40; 95% CI, 0.55-3.59) and citrus fruit consumption (ORtertile 2, 3.35; 95% CI, 1.36, 8.24; ORtertile 3, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.23-8.08). This interaction was statistically significant (P

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-16T09:32:39-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Unique U-M surgery creates fully usable tongue following tongue cancer

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: staff The night before her surgery for tongue cancer, 30-year-old Lisa Bourdon-Krause realized she might never be able to speak to her toddler son again. So she sat up half the night recording messages to him: "Hi, how was your day?," "You're so handsome," "You have a stinky butt. I need to change you." She read two of his favorite books. "It took me about three times to get through the one story, but I did it and I'm glad I did it. It made me feel safer going into surgery knowing that if something happened to me or if I couldn't speak when I woke up, he would be able to hear my voice and know how much I loved him," Bourdon-Krause says. The surgery was to remove a cancerous tumor growing near the back of her tongue. Surgeons would remove half of her tongue, an operation that would dramatically affect basic functions such as speech and swallowing. But by using innovative techniques in oral reconstruction, surgeons at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center were able to reconstruct a tongue using skin from Bourdon-Krause's own forearm. Today -- eight years after that surgery -- she remains cancer free. But just as importantly, she remains able to swallow, eat and speak to her son. "Tongue reconstruction in the past would have limited a patient to a soft diet -- mostly liquids, some soft solids. At present with the tongue reconstructions that we're performing, patients are able [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-15T12:33:28-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Other ailments can affect survival of head and neck cancer

Source: record.wustl.edu Author: Gwen Ericson Current estimates for head and neck cancer survival are largely inaccurate because they widely disregard many of the most common diseases such patients have in addition to their primary cancer, said Jay Piccirillo, M.D., a head and neck specialist at the School of Medicine, the Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. This highlights a broader problem with cancer survival statistics, which generally don't take into account the effect of coexisting conditions or comorbidities, Piccirillo said. In a recent study, Piccirillo, professor of otolaryngology and director of the Clinical Outcomes Research Office at the School of Medicine, showed that the risk of death increased up to sevenfold when patients with head and neck cancer developed new or more severe coexisting ailments such as heart problems, diabetes or lung disorders after cancer diagnosis. The study, published in the October issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, is the first to look at comorbidities in head and neck cancer patients in the period following diagnosis. "For decades, we have used a cancer-staging system based on tumor size, lymph node involvement and whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body when estimating a patient's survival while mostly ignoring how sick patients are from other diseases," Piccirillo said. "In fact, national databases used to estimate cancer survival don't account for comorbidities, and, as a result, we don't have very accurate estimates of how long patients are likely to survive their cancers." Some past studies of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-12T10:59:26-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Help requested to research early oral cancer detection

Source: British Dental Journal 205, 586 (2008) Author: staff A research group at the University of Sheffield are inviting dentists to participate in a study investigating how general dental practitioners working in primary care screen and refer suspicious oral soft tissue lesions. Professor Paul Speight, Dr Sarah Baker and Paul Brocklehurst from the School of Clinical Dentistry in Sheffield are investigating the cues or factors which GDPs take into account when deciding whether or not to refer a lesion to secondary care. The information will be used to prepare guidelines which may result in more rapid referral of appropriate lesions. Oral cancer affects almost 4,500 Britons every year and 50% of these will die of their disease. The team say that the main reason for this high mortality is that many patients present to secondary care with large lesions, when it is already too late to initiate curative treatment. There are many reasons for delay in presentation, but one possible reason is that lesions are not identified and referred to hospital specialists. Colleagues are invited to participate in this study by completing a short web-based questionnaire, which comprises ten clinical cases histories. The task is to decide which of the lesions practitioners would refer and to record the factors that influenced the decision. Full details of the project and access to the questionnaire can be found on http://www.oralcancerscreening.com.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-12T08:11:28-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Robotic tongue cancer surgery

Source: kaaltv.com Author: staff Fighting cancer is not easy. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery can be very hard on your body. Take head and neck cancers, for example. These tumors are often hard to reach. Doctors have to cut through bones such as your jaw to reach them. Now, doctors at Mayo Clinic are using robots to access these cancers leaving face bones intact. Roger Combs may be having a tough time beating his wife Gloria at a game of gin rummy. But he's winning a much tougher battle; a fight against cancer that formed at the base of his tongue. "I really didn't feel badly. I had some difficulty swallowing," he says. Roger's doctors told him the cancer had to be removed. "But the tongue and tonsillar area is a very hard area to get to," says Dr. Eric Moore. Dr. Moore says traditional surgery often involves splitting the jawbone open to access the tumor. "And obviously that's disfiguring, interferes with speech and swallowing and it takes a lot of time to recover, " he says. So instead, Dr. Moore used a robot to remove Roger's cancer. The operation involves lowering the robotic equipment through Roger's mouth to the site of the tumor. While seated at a control panel Dr. Moore then guides the robot as it removes the cancer without damaging surrounding structures. After Roger healed from the operation, he went through radiation and chemotherapy - both of which were not easy. "We've had some ups and downs as [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-11T13:29:12-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer patients could be diagnosed earlier, study suggests

Source: www.sciencedaily.com Author: staff Worldwide, more than 500,000 new cases of cancer of the mouth are diagnosed each year. The majority of these cancers are found too late, causing many people to die within five years of finding out they have cancer. There exists much information addressing issues related to the patient who has undergone surgery or chemotherapy but little information related to early diagnosis and referral. A new article in the Journal of Prosthodontics describes the epidemiology of oral cancer and the diagnostic tools currently available to prosthodontists to ensure that their patients are diagnosed at the earliest possible time. Although the need for prosthodontics was expected to decline with the promotion of preventive measures, it is actually increasing with the aging population. The highest risk of developing oral cancer is in adults over 40 who use both tobacco and alcohol. However, these cancers can develop in anyone, so annual prosthodontist visits are increasingly important. The majority of oral, head and neck cancer are initially diagnosed in a late stage, which has a five year prognosis of less than 50 percent. If these tumors are found in their earliest stage, the five year prognosis is 95 percent. All dentists, including prosthodontists, are specifically trained to detect these tumors in an early stage. Only 28 percent of patients reported ever having had an oral cancer examination. Patients who have lost their teeth must be specifically counseled about returning for prescribed, regular recall examinations. They may wrongly think that, as they [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-11T09:46:03-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer to be world’s top killer by 2010, WHO says

Source: news.myway.com Author: Mike Stobbe Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, part of a trend that should more than double global cancer cases and deaths by 2030, international health experts said in a report released Tuesday. Rising tobacco use in developing countries is believed to be a huge reason for the shift, particularly in China and India, where 40 percent of the world's smokers now live. So is better diagnosing of cancer, along with the downward trend in infectious diseases that used to be the world's leading killers. Cancer diagnoses around the world have steadily been rising and are expected to hit 12 million this year. Global cancer deaths are expected to reach 7 million, according to the new report by the World Health Organization. An annual rise of 1 percent in cases and deaths is expected - with even larger increases in China, Russia and India. That means new cancer cases will likely mushroom to 27 million annually by 2030, with deaths hitting 17 million. Underlying all this is an expected expansion of the world's population - there will be more people around to get cancer. By 2030, there could be 75 million people living with cancer around the world, a number that many health care systems are not equipped to handle. "This is going to present an amazing problem at every level in every society worldwide," said Peter Boyle, director of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer. Boyle spoke at [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-09T12:05:31-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

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