OCF In The News

VELscope System Called the World’s Leading Oral Cancer Screening System

Source: LED Dental Inc Writer: John Pohl WHITE ROCK, British Columbia—February 27, 2009—LED Dental Inc. claimed today that its VELscope system is used for more oral cancer examinations than any other adjunctive technology in the world. Impressive Milestones Passed According to Dr. Ralph Green, president and CEO of LED Dental's parent, LED Medical Diagnostics, "Since our mid-2006 launch, we have sold over 4,000 VELscope systems worldwide. Based on an independent survey of VELscope users, we estimate that these devices have been used to conduct over 4 million VELscope exams to date." Dr. Green added, "What's more, we estimate that over 3 million additional VELscope exams will be conducted in 2009 alone. Based on sales information reported by our leading competitor, it is clear that their product is currently being used for a much lower number of exams." Powerful Supporting Research The tissue fluorescence visualization technology platform on which the VELscope system is based is the culmination of over $50 million in research funded by the National Institutes of Health and other respected institutions and conducted by such leading organizations as the British Columbia Cancer Agency and the University of Texas's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Translating this highly sophisticated, breakthrough technology for use in an efficacious device to examine the oral mucosa was the brainchild of LED Dental and the British Columbia Cancer Agency. Launched in 2006 as the first tissue fluorescence device made commercially available to the dental community, the VELscope system revolutionized the dental practitioner's ability to visualize the oral mucosal [...]

Webmaster2009-02-27T20:19:09-07:00February, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Médicos discutem a importância de novos exames de câncer de boca

Source: g1.globo.com Author: Laurie Tarkan Do 'New York Times' Apesar de relativamente raro, esse é um dos tipos de câncer mais fáceis de observar e diagnosticar. E, se tratado a tempo, é geralmente curável. Então, por que especialistas acham o câncer de boca tão problemático? Embora tenham ocorrido vários avanços na luta contra o câncer nas últimas décadas, as estatísticas sobre esse tipo da doença permanecem desalentadoras. Mais de 60% dos casos são diagnosticados nos estágios mais avançados, e a sobrevivência em cinco anos é de decepcionantes 59%. Além disso, o câncer de boca está aumentando em pessoas tradicionalmente de baixo risco, um fenômeno atribuído em parte ao aumento do papilomavírus humano, HPV, causador de câncer, que pode ser transmitido através do sexo oral. Agora, alguns dentistas – cujos exames visuais há tempos têm sido uma primeira linha de defesa contra o câncer de boca – estão usando aparelhos de imagem capazes, segundo eles, de ajudar a identificar cânceres e lesões pré-malignas. Porém, esses novos exames despertaram um debate sobre o custo-benefício. Especialistas estão divididos entre a possibilidade desses tais exames reduzirem a mortalidade por câncer de boca ou simplesmente levarem a uma onda de biópsias dispendiosas e desnecessárias. Números da doença Aproximadamente 35.300 americanos souberam ter câncer de boca no ano passado, e cerca de 7.600 morreram em decorrência da doença. Para os sobreviventes, o câncer de boca pode ser doloroso e desfigurador, e pode destruir a capacidade de saborear e apreciar alimentos. Considera-se que fumantes e pessoas que [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-02-05T15:07:48-07:00February, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

New oral cancer tests: crucial or wasteful?

Source: nytimes.com Author: Laurie Tarkan Though relatively rare, it is one of the easiest cancers to spot and diagnose. And if treated early, it is usually curable. So why do experts find oral cancer so vexing? Despite the many advances against cancer in recent decades, the statistics on this form of it remain discouraging: more than 60 percent of cases are diagnosed in the late stages, and the five-year survival rate is a disappointing 59 percent. Moreover, oral cancer is increasing in people traditionally at low risk, a phenomenon partly attributed to the rise of the cancer-causing human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can be transmitted through oral sex. Now some dentists — whose visual examinations have long been a first line of defense against oral cancer — are using screening devices that they say may help identify cancers and premalignant lesions. But these new tests have set off a debate over cost and effectiveness. Experts are divided on whether they will reduce mortality from oral cancer or simply lead to a wave of expensive and unnecessary biopsies. An estimated 35,300 Americans learned they had oral cancer last year, and about 7,600 died from the disease. For survivors, oral cancer can be painful and disfiguring, and can destroy the ability to taste and enjoy food. Smokers and heavy drinkers are considered at highest risk for the disease, but 25 percent of those who receive a diagnosis are neither. Still, the lifetime risk of oral cancer — about 1 in 99 — [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-02-03T20:50:30-07:00February, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Noted Hopkins scientist says research indicates need for effective HPV vaccine for women and men and a simple HPV screening test

Source: www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/news Author: press release A call to explore a broader use of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines and the validation of a simple oral screening test for HPV-caused oral cancers are reported in two studies by a Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigator. Leading HPV expert Maura Gillison, M.D., Ph.D., the first to identify HPV infection as the cause of certain oral cancers and who identified multiple sex partners as the most important risk factor for these cancers, reports her latest work in the November 3, 2008, journal Clinical Cancer Research and in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monograph. The CDC report on HPV-associated cancers appears on line November 3 and in the November 15, 2008, supplement edition of Cancer. In the CDC report, believed to be the first and most comprehensive assessment of HPV-associated cancer data in the United States, investigators analyzed cancer registry data from 1998-2003 and found 25,000 cancer cases each year occurred at cancer sites associated with HPV infection. In additional analysis, Gillison and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute identified HPV infection as the underlying cause of approximately 20,000 of these cancers. Gillison and team found approximately 20,000 cases of cancer in the United States each year are caused by HPV infection. Oral cancers are the second most common type of HPV-associated cancers and are increasing in incidence in the U.S., particularly among men. Add to that anal, penile, vaginal, and vulvar cancers that are also linked to HPV infection, and Gillison [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-01-25T16:27:22-07:00January, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

World renowned HPV expert joins OSU cancer program

Source: media-newswire.com Author: press release Leading human papilloma virus ( HPV ) expert Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, will join The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute on Jan. 1 as a professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology and a member of the Cancer Control and Viral Oncology Programs in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. She will hold the Jeg Coughlin Chair in Cancer Research. Focusing on the role that HPV plays in the development of head and neck cancers, Gillison was the first to identify HPV infection as the cause of certain oral cancers and identified multiple sex partners as the most important risk factor for these cancers. At Ohio State, Gillison plans to build a program focused on identifying associations between infections and cancers, with the ultimate goal of applying discoveries to prevent and treat cancer. A frequent guest on national network newscasts and quoted extensively in cancer trade and national consumer publications, Gillison was recruited from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she was an associate professor and a member of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. The American Society of Clinical Oncology named Gillison’s research on HPV-associated head/neck cancers as one of six major clinical cancer advances for 2007. “Recruiting Dr. Gillison is part of our aggressive and ongoing strategy to recruit the world’s best and brightest cancer researchers and clinicians to The Ohio State University,” said Dr. Michael Caligiuri, director of Ohio State’s [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-11-13T16:00:01-07:00November, 2008|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Like mother, like daughter – cover story interview with Grandmother Blythe Danner

Source: www.grandmagazineonline.com Author: Mary Hunt Mom to Gwyneth and grandmother to Apple, Emmy Award-winner Blythe Danner at 62 is finding more fame than she ever sought. Blythe Danner, at 62, just set the new record for the number of Emmy nominations for acting in a single year (three). But ask most people to put her name and “superstar” in a sentence, and another name will most likely be added: Blythe Danner is the mother of superstar Gwyneth Paltrow. Paltrow once told reporter Jeanne Wolf, “I did not set out to be a celebrity. I just wanted to do what my mother did. I don't know how it snowballed into what it snowballed into.” What her mother has done is to have a solid, satisfying career balancing stage, TV and the occasional film. How her mother avoided the snowball was primarily her passion for privacy—and for her family. There was never anything to gossip about with Blythe Danner. She married young and stayed married, and once told a reporter that the only designer wear she owned was Halston—specifically, his Brownie Leader uniform. Today she relishes the role of grandmother, both onscreen (with Robert DeNiro as her husband, in Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers) and off, calling herself “a doting grandmother” to 20-month-old Apple Blythe Martin, Gwyneth's daughter. It all sounds pretty wholesome for a woman whose first big career move was in her underwear. In 1969, Danner made her Broadway debut in Butterflies Are Free, at the age of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-10-12T17:18:03-07:00October, 2008|OCF In The News|

Sister honors her brother by supporting Oral Cancer Foundation

Source: OCF Press Release Author: John Pohl David Nasto was the kind of person many of us wish we could be. He was a surfer. A snowboarder. A kayaker. A bicycler. An artist. A world traveler. A free spirit. Not content to simply be a devoted fan of the Grateful Dead, he also designed their album covers. Simply put, David Nasto loved life, and he lived it on his own terms. David Nasto was also his sister Susan’s hero. So when David developed oral cancer in 2005, Susan decided to learn as much about the disease as she could. And when David passed away the following year, she decided to honor her brother do by doing what she could to help prevent others from suffering the way he suffered. “When David was diagnosed with oral cancer, I was shocked,” said Susan. “He was so athletic, so healthy, and he had never smoked a cigarette in his life. I didn’t think oral cancer struck people like him.” Susan tried to learn as much as she could about the disease, spending much of her free time doing online research. During that process she discovered the website of the Oral Cancer Foundation. “I learned a lot about oral cancer, but the most important thing I learned is the importance of early detection. So when David died, I wanted to find a way to raise money to help increase awareness of the need for everyone to get checked for oral cancer on a regular [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-10-06T20:16:14-07:00October, 2008|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Saving lives… All in a day’s work

Author: Jo-Anne Jones, RDH Source: 'Oral Health Journal (www.oralhealthjournal.com) If you have ever had a diagnosis from a medical doctor that leaves your life temporarily hanging in the balance, you will truly appreciate the emotional impact the diagnosis of oral cancer has on an individual. For those that unfortunately receive this type of news, death may be very prolonged and extremely painful both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, this is the second year in a row in which there has been an increase in the number of occurrences, this time of about 11% over the previous year. 1 Here are the facts... the five-year survival rate from oral cancer has not significantly improved in the past 30 years, remaining at approximately 50-59% More than 34,000 (35,310 cases estimated in 2008 involving the oral cavity and pharynx2)Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year. It will cause over 8,000 deaths, killing roughly one person per hour, 24 hours per day. Of those 34,000 newly diagnosed individuals, only half will be alive in 5 years. This is a number which has not significantly improved in decades. The death rate for oral cancer is higher than that of cancers which we hear about routinely, such as cervical cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, laryngeal cancer, cancer of the testes, endocrine system, thyroid, or skin cancer (malignant melanoma). If you expand the definition of oral cancers to include cancer of the larynx, for which the risk factors are the same, the number of diagnosed cases [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-08T22:01:10-07:00July, 2008|OCF In The News|

Medical Researchers Urged to Speed Up Vaccine’s Safety Investigations

The Oral Cancer Foundation is urging medical researchers to speed up investigations on the safety of a vaccine for a sexually transmitted virus that it said causes cancer of the mouth. The foundation’s statement comes shortly after studies published this month in the medical journal “Cancer” and the New England Journal of Medicine, which suggest a link between human papillomavirus (HPV) and oral cancer. Currently, the vaccine—which protects against four strains of the virus—is administered to girls and adolescent females to protect against cervical cancer, the foundation said. Deaths from cervical cancer, which number about 3,700 per year nationally, have declined due to improved methods of early detection and the public’s greater awareness of the importance of annual screenings, the foundation said. The foundation also said men can benefit if given the same vaccine and urged the FDA to approve such a use once scientific due diligence has been accomplished. “The study affirms what we have long believed, namely that the vaccine can reduce oral cancer rates if given to both males and females,” said Brian Hill, founder and executive director of the Oral Cancer foundation. Oral cancer can be detected early through simple visual and hand examinations, the foundation said. But no public awareness campaign exists nationally to promote detection, it said. Every day in the United States, 93 people develop oral cancer—and one person dies from it every hour, more than twice the death rate of cervical cancers and higher than many of the more commonly known cancers, [...]

Webmaster2008-07-08T22:06:08-07:00May, 2008|OCF In The News|

NYU Students Receive OCF Award for Excellence in Public Service

NYU Dental Students Show They Have a Lot to Teach About Giving Back The Oral Cancer Foundation recently honored the two student co-chairs of Oral Cancer Walk 2008, an awareness-building and fund-raising event coordinated by the New York University Dental School’s chapter of SNDA (Student National Dental Association). The two honorees are fourth-year student Marcus Johnson and third-year student Dmitry Baron. Marcus and Dmitry both worked on the 2006 and 2007 events and, despite extremely busy schedules, enthusiastically embraced the challenge of running this year’s event. Oral Cancer Walk 2008 took place the morning of Saturday, April 19 in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, drew over 900 walkers, and raised over $30,000 to support the cause of the early detection of oral cancer. Funds raised through the event sponsor the work of The Oral Cancer Foundation. The event also featured free oral cancer, blood pressure, and cholesterol screenings in conjunction with the Harlem Hospital, speeches from oral cancer survivors, and musical entertainment both before and after the walk. Dr. Jocelyn Jeffries, the chair of Oral Cancer Walk 2007, attended the event and lent her moral support to the new event leadership. “For Marcus and Dmitry to find the time to coordinate such a significant event while tending to their dental school studies represents a tremendous sacrifice,” said Brian Hill, Founder and Executive Director of the Oral Cancer Foundation, which again was both one of the event’s sponsors, and benefactors. “Their exceptional leadership, passion and altruism have generated not only badly-needed funding, [...]

Webmaster2008-07-08T22:13:45-07:00May, 2008|OCF In The News|