About Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A has created 2444 blog entries.

A new way to predict complications after larynx cancer surgery

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: News release - Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan Rebecca Hoesli, M.D., and Matthew Spector, M.D., evaluate an image from the studey A technique that illuminates blood flow during surgery predicted which head and neck cancer patients were likely to have issues with wound healing. It could enable surgeons to make adjustments during surgery or recovery to improve outcomes. A team of surgeons at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found the approach so successful in a clinical trial that they closed the study early. Most people with larynx cancer will have radiation and chemotherapy. But about one-third of the time, the cancer will return or will prove resistant, leaving surgery as the next option. At this point, tissue damage from the radiation adds challenges to the operation. When the surgeon closes the wound, damaged tissue can interfere. For about 40% of patients, this will lead to a pharyngocutaneous fistula, a hole in the neck where saliva can leak out. It can cause bleeding or infections, keeping patients in the hospital longer, and in 10% of cases sending them back to the operating room to fix it. "Radiation damage is something you can't always see. There have been very few examples in the literature that would explain or predict who's going to have a complication," says Matthew E. Spector, M.D., assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Michigan Medicine. Spector is the senior author on a paper made available online in February ahead of [...]

Oral rinse could improve mouth pain associated with radiation therapy

Source: www.specialtypharmacytimes.com Author: staff An oral rinse containing diphenhydramine, lidocaine, and antacids, was found to significantly decrease pain caused by oral mucositis in patients undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer compared with placebo, according to a study published in JAMA. The multi-institution, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 clinical trial was led by Robert Miller, MD, an emeritus Mayo Clinic radiation oncologist. "Our group published a study in 2012 showing that an oral rinse of doxepin reduced oral mucositis-related pain compared to placebo," Miller said in a press release. "However, there were no large randomized controlled trials studying the potential benefits of magic mouthwash." The researchers evaluated 275 patients between November 2014 and May 2016. The study revealed that treatment with both doxepin and the mouthwash combination significantly reduced pain associated with oral mucositis compared with placebo. The doxepin and mouthwash combination treatment was also well-tolerated by patients, according to the study. "Radiation therapy may cause mouth sores because it is designed to kill rapidly growing cells, such as cancer cells," co-author, Terence Sio, MD, a Mayo Clinic radiation oncologist, said in a press release. "Unfortunately, healthy cells in your mouth also divide and grow rapidly, and may be damaged during radiation therapy, which can cause discomfort. We're glad to have identified a proven method to help treat the discomfort of this side effect."

Twitter lends insight to HPV-associated oral cancer knowledge

Source: www.oncnursingnews.com Author: Brielle Benyon The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oral cancer has risen in recent years, and the virus has now surpassed tobacco and alcohol use as the leading cause of the disease. In fact, while the HPV vaccine is typically associated with preventing cervical cancer, there have been more cases of HPV-associated oral cancer than there have been cervical cancer.1 While the link between oral cancer and HPV may be well-known to healthcare professionals, researchers at Howard University recently took to Twitter to get a glimpse into the public’s knowledge about the topic. “By looking at the social media data, we wanted to know what people are hearing about oral cancer – especially HPV-caused oral cancer,” study co-author Jae Eun Chung, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Strategic, Legal & Management Communication at Howard University, said. “We wanted to see what the gaps are between the knowledge of the healthcare professionals and the public.” The researchers collected 3,229 unique tweets over the course of 40 weeks using search terms such as “HPV or papilloma” and “mouth or oral or throat or pharyngeal or oropharyngeal.” They then used a program called nVivo 12.0 to conduct a content analysis that looked at certain phrasing, terms, and themes that commonly appeared. More than half (54%; 1679 total) of the tweets had information about prevention, while 29% (910) were about the causes of oral cancer. Far fewer tweets were about treatment (5%; 141), diagnosis (3%; 97), symptoms (1%; 42), and [...]

‘Whitish patch’: increase in oral dysplasia in young adults

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Kristin Jenkins Most 8-year-olds with a wiggly tooth expect the Tooth Fairy to tuck some money under their pillow. In the case of one little Canadian boy, his wiggly tooth got him an incisional biopsy, a diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), a partial maxillectomy, and a defect that was closed with local advancement flaps. "This was the most unusual case we've seen," said Marco A. Magalhaes, DDS, PhD, assistant professor of oral pathology and oral medicine in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. "OSCC predominantly affects patients 40 years of age and older," write Magalhaes and colleagues in a case study report published in November 2016 in Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology Oral Radiology. "It is extremely rare in patients younger than 20 years of age." The clinical, radiographic, and histologic findings in this young patient were distinctive. Although the diagnosis and treatment were challenging, the clinical course was favorable at follow-up, the authors said. This case illustrates the fact that even pediatric patients can be at risk for OSCC. Magalhaes said that he and other dentists are concerned about the rising number of OSCC cases in patients who are in their 20s and 30s. These patients have no known risk factors and are often without symptoms. Many are diagnosed with high-grade oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) that rapidly progresses to cancer, Magalhaes told Medscape Medical News. "When you look at the distribution of cases of oral dysplasia or [...]

New technology that transforms brain signals into speech may give voice to people with Parkinson’s, throat cancer

Source: www.techtimes.com Author: Naia Carlos Tech Times Technology has advanced so greatly that even patients who have completely lost their voice could potentially have it restored soon. In fact, scientists have already developed a computer-based system that can translate brain activity into speech. Someday in the future, this system could help individuals who have lost their speech through various conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, throat cancer, and paralysis. "Speech is an amazing form of communication that has evolved over thousands of years to be very efficient," said Edward F. Chang, M.D., senior author of the study and professor of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. "Many of us take for granted how easy it is to speak, which is why losing that ability can be so devastating. It is our hope that this approach will be helpful to people whose muscles enabling audible speech are paralyzed." Scientists Develop Computer-Generated Speech Translator In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers shared the details of their new technology. First, the team collected recordings of the brain activity of epilepsy patients without speech problems and who are scheduled to undergo surgery. The researchers had each patient speak or mime in full sentences, then they constructed maps on how the brain directs the entire vocal system to make sounds. The second step involved the maps getting applied to a computer program that produced the speech. Volunteers listened to the computer-generated speech and asked to transcribe what they heard. In more [...]

Cancer ‘vaccine’ shown to be effective in small trial

Source: www.upi.com Author: Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News A new method of brewing a cancer vaccine inside a patient's tumor could harness the power of the immune system to destroy the disease, researchers report. Immune stimulants are injected directly into a tumor, which teaches the immune system to recognize and destroy all similar cancer cells throughout the body, said senior researcher Dr. Joshua Brody. He is director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "We're injecting two immune stimulants right into one single tumor," Brody said. "We inject one tumor and we see all of the other tumors just melt away." Eight out of 11 lymphoma patients in a small, early clinical trial experienced partial or complete destruction of the tumor that received the initial injection, according to the report published April 8 in the journal Nature Medicine. The vaccine also halted overall cancer progression in six patients for three to 18 months, and caused significant regression or actual remission in three patients, the investigators found. The results were solid enough that the research team is expanding its next clinical trial to include lymphoma, breast, and head and neck cancer patients, Brody said. That trial started in March. Prior efforts at unleashing the immune system to fight cancer have focused on T-cells, which Brody calls the "soldiers" of the immune army because they directly attack harmful invaders in the body. Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors help T-cells identify cancer cells as [...]

How does alcohol compare with tobacco in terms of cancer risk?

Source: rocklandregister.com Author: Rockland Staff Everyone knows, these days, about the cancer risks associated with smoking cigarettes. Perhaps not as many understand that drinking alcohol also poses some elevated risk for developing cancer. A new study, however, has compared and quantified these risks in a new report suggesting that drinking a single bottle of wine per week can bear the equivalent cancer risk of at least five cigarettes. Study author Dr. Theresa Hydes comments, “It is well-established that heavy drinking is linked to cancer of the mouth, throat, voice box, gullet, bowel, liver, and breast. Yet, in contrast to smoking, this is not widely understood by the public.” According to the National Cancer Institute, data shows there are “clear patterns” related to alcohol consumption and the development of several types of cancer: liver cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, and head and neck cancer. Essentially, the more you drink (both acutely and cumulatively), the higher your risk for developing cancer. However, the study also suggest that even very light drinks (one or fewer drinks per day, or up to 7 per week) have about the same moderately elevated risk as binge drinkers (sporadic drinking of at least four servings in one session). From this data, then, a British team of researchers from University of Southampton, Bangor University, and the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust investigated the data, particularly in how alcohol consumption might compare against smoking. Analyzing data taken from Cancer Research UK—regarding lifetime cancer risk across the [...]

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month: Self-exams, early detection can save lives

Source: www.prnewswire.com Author: press release Because early detection of oral cancer offers a greater chance of a cure, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) is reminding the public during Oral Cancer Awareness Month of the importance of performing monthly self-exams. AAOMS promotes self-exams and screenings every April with the Oral Cancer Foundation, which predicts about 53,000 new cases of oral cancer will be diagnosed in 2019 in the United States – leading to more than 9,000 deaths. "A monthly self-exam takes only minutes and could potentially save your life," said AAOMS President A. Thomas Indresano, DMD, FACS. "If done on a regular basis, you're increasing the chances of identifying changes or new growths early. The survival rate for oral cancer is between 80 and 90 percent when it's found at early stages of development." Oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) encourage a six-step oral cancer self-exam that involves looking and feeling inside the mouth for suspicious sores and feeling the jaw and neck for lumps. Using a bright light and a mirror: First remove any dentures. Look and feel inside the lips and the front of the gums. Tilt the head back to inspect and feel the roof of the mouth. Pull the cheek out to inspect it and the gums in the back. Pull out the tongue and look at its top and bottom. Feel for lumps or enlarged lymph nodes in both sides of the neck, including under the lower jaws. Oral cancer symptoms may include [...]

Flossing and going to the dentist linked to lower risk of oral cancer

Source: www.livescience.com Author: Yasemin Saplakoglu, Staff Writer Regularly flossing and going to the dentist may be tied to a lower risk of oral cancer. That's according to findings presented March 31, here at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting. In the new study, researchers analyzed the dental health behaviors of patients who were diagnosed with oral cancer between 2011 and 2014 at the ear, nose and throat clinic at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. The patients' behaviors were compared to those of non-cancer patients who came to the clinic for other reasons, such as dizziness or an earache. [7 Odd Things That Raise Your Risk of Cancer (and 1 That Doesn't)] All of the patients in the study had responded to a survey that included questions about how often they flossed, how often they went to the dentist, how sexually active they were and if they smoked or drank alcohol. Oral cancer can be divided into two categories: those driven by the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) and those that aren't, said lead study author Jitesh Shewale, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. (Smoking and drinking are both risk factors for non-HPV oral cancers.) After adjusting for factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status and race, the researchers found that oral HPV-negative people who went to the dentist less than once a year had nearly twice the risk of developing oral cancer than those who went once [...]

How do speech-language pathologists support cancer patients?

Source: syvnews.com Author: Aundie Werner Question: What are speech-language pathologists and how do they support cancer patients? It is estimated that about 100,000 people will be diagnosed with a head, neck or thyroid cancer this year. Although this does not grab headlines as often as many other cancers, for those affected the disease and treatment can have a significant impact on their lives. In general, most people survive head and neck cancer; however, side effects of treatment can sometimes be a long-term problem. The support and guidance of a speech-language pathologist (SLP) can do much to help promote recovery and cope with the difficult symptoms of treatment. Ideally, the SLP becomes involved when the patient has been identified as having head and neck cancer before their surgery or before their chemotherapy/radiation protocol. Counseling and education are provided as to the functions of voice, speech and swallowing. Assessment is made to determine the patient’s baseline and to provide guidance as to the patient’s role in their rehabilitation. Frequently, the SLP works with patients who have difficulty eating and drinking. Treatment is based on the cause of the problem: anatomical changes from surgery, decreased saliva, changes in taste, difficulty opening the mouth due to trismus, and problems protecting the airway, which can result in coughing and choking during meals. Maintaining nutrition after surgery and during treatment is necessary to help the body heal. At times, the patient may need to have a feeding tube to help with nutrition when it becomes too [...]

Go to Top