The FDA’s power over cigars

Source: www.latimes.com/health Author: editorial The 2009 federal law that required the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationto begin regulating cigarettes also gave it the option of regulating cigars. Now two bills, one in each chamber of Congress, would remove the agency's authority over "traditional" cigars — the regular size that you're used to, not the ones the size of cigarettes. It's true that cigarettes are the far bigger health scourge in the United States, accounting for nearly one in five deaths each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Traditionally, cigars have not been popular among young people, which is significant because preventing smoking among youth is one of the key reasons for regulating tobacco. But there's nothing good to be said about the health effects of cigar smoking levitra de 20 mg xifaxan médicament. Even though cigar lovers don't typically inhale the smoke, their lung cancer rates are higher than those of nonsmoking Americans — though lower than those of cigarette smokers. According to the National Cancer Institute, cigars have higher levels of tar, toxins and carcinogens than cigarettes and cause cancers of the mouth, lips, throat and esophagus. They also produce more secondhand smoke. The rate of cigar smoking have been increasing for the last two decades, and cigars can now be found in fruit and candy flavors, including chocolate — the same kind of flavor tweaking that got many teenagers hooked on cigarettes. That was why the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco [...]

Throat cancer survivors sing to give thanks, encourage others

Source: www.wfaa.com Author: Jim Douglas Five cancer survivors stepped up to the microphones Tuesday at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth. About 300 people waited to hear the North Texas Laryngectomy Choir. Video available here. It takes courage for anyone to sing in front of a crowd. Imagine doing it without vocal cords. Howard Defibaugh found his courage by first singing to his wife, Diana. He sang her the song she sang to him to soothe his recovery from throat surgery a couple of years ago: You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. It came out low and raspy... almost mechanical. Doctors removed Defibaugh's larynx to save his life. Same with John Robinson. They now have plastic implants. Both hold their hands over the valves in their necks as they talk... and sing. "I don't know how I'm going to do with a big crowd today," Robinson said with a smile. Defibaugh gave him a reassuring pat on the back. This is how the North Texas Laryngectomy Choir started: As a support group. They joke they couldn't carry a tune in bucket (even when they had their real voices). But this concert is about what they carry in their hearts. The five singers stepped to the mics, and sang, "What a Wonderful World." The occasion was the first annual banquet for cancer survivors and caregivers at Baylor All Saints. The crowd gave them a standing ovation.

Tobacco use and baseball

Source: www.quitsmokingforyou.com Like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco (snuff and chewing tobacco), cause mouth cancer, gum disease, and heart disease. Yet many think that chewing tobacco is safe or less so than smoking. This is not true! In 1986, the Surgeon normal closed that the use of smokeless tobacco “is not a safe substitute for smoking cigarettes. It can cause cancer and a whole of noncancerous conditions and can lead to nicotine addiction and dependence.” Since 1991, the National Cancer institute (Nci) has officially recommended that the group avoid and desist the use of all tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco. Nci also recognizes that nitrosamines, found in tobacco products, are not safe at any level. Chewing tobacco and baseball have a long tight affiliation, rooted in the cultural confidence among players and fans that baseball players chew tobacco and it is just part of the grand old game. This mystique is slowing changing with campaigns by ballplayers who have had or have seen friends with mouth cancer caused by chewing tobacco use. Jeff Bagwell Jeff Bagwell, retired first baseman with the Houston Astros and Joe Garagiola, a previous baseball player and commentator, campaign against tobacco use among children and addicted adults. In 1993, when Bagwell was 25-years-old, his dentist discovered leukoplakia, a whitish pre-cancerous sore in his mouth where he continually located chewing tobacco. About 5% of leukoplakias institute into cancer. Fortunately this did not happen to Jeff Bagwell due to the early detection by his dentist. Rick Bender, The Man Without [...]

If You Fail to Look

Source: The American Academy of Oral Systemic Health Newsletter Author: Cris Duval Detecting oral cancer in its earliest stages saves lives, eases suffering, reduces morbidity, and ameliorates post-surgery recovery. Remember when you took driver’s education in high school?  I do! When I grew up, driver’s education students in Washington State were required to watch “shock” highway-safety films. These videos, depicting the aftermath of drivers’ actions, showed actual accident scenes, complete with audio recordings of victims’ screams and color close-ups of mangled bodies.  My bet is that, if you have ever watched one of these videos, you have never forgotten it. For me, when I saw these videos, I thought about my family and my friends.  I know that I have a family that loves and cares about me, and thus, I owe it to them to avoid doing something stupid behind-the-wheel.  I never want one of my loved ones to have to go through the pain of seeing me hurt. This means to me that my driver’s license is more than just a “key” to get behind the wheel.  Rather, as a website for traffic safety in Texas states, a driver’s license signifies that the driver possesses the “essential knowledge, skills, and experience to perform reduced risk practices in [a] total traffic environment.”  In other words, the driver is accountable to himself and other drivers. My response to these driver’s education videos is akin to my reaction to videos that I watched at the Pacific Northwest Head, Neck & Thyroid Cancer [...]

2012-06-01T09:35:08-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Penn study finds delayed side effects of head and neck cancer treatments go unreported

Source: Eurekalert.org Results reinforce need for improved 'survivorship care' to encourage patients to seek help for their symptoms CHICAGO – New data from an Internet-based study show that patients with head and neck cancers (HNC) may be at risk for significant late effects after their treatment, but they're unlikely to discuss these and other survivorship care issues with their doctors. The findings, from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will be presented Monday, June 4, at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. The research team says the study reinforces the need to improve survivorship care for patients as they complete their active treatment, better educate patients about late effects they may experience, and encourage them to report these problems to their healthcare providers so they can be addressed. Data from nearly 4,000 cancer survivors were gathered between April 2010 and October 2011 via patients who completed LIVESTRONG Care Plans via OncoLink, Penn Medicine's online cancer resource. Approximately four percent of those patients had been treated for a primary head or neck cancer. Of those, nearly 88 percent reported having undergone radiation, 73 percent surgery, and 67 percent chemotherapy. Many patients reported late effects such as difficulty swallowing/speaking (83 percent), decreased saliva production (88 percent), thyroid problems (33 percent), decreased neck mobility (60 percent), concerns regarding cognitive function (53 percent), or vision deficits. However, since results show that patients only discuss the survivorship care plans they created on the site [...]

2012-05-31T12:09:42-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

The UK’s first robotic mouth cancer operation

Source: www.privatehealth.co.uk Author: staff Pioneering surgery which allows doctors to remove cancer in the mouth using a minimally invasive technique is now available at the Wellington Hospital. Traditionally, the only way to remove Squamous Cell Carcinoma – cancer of the oropharynx which encompasses the tonsils and base of the tongue – has been to split the jaw, take out the cancer and repair the neck with tissue from the forearm. This 10-hour procedure requires two surgical teams and often has complications. Patients are in hospital for at least three weeks and need months of rehabilitation to help them swallow and speak again. Because the treatment is so invasive, many doctors try to avoid it using chemotherapy and radiotherapy instead. However, surgery is often the best chance of a cure. The new one-hour technique called Transoral Robotic Surgery allows the cancer to be removed without splitting the jaw or taking tissue from other parts of the body. Instead, the tonsils are accessed through the mouth using a specially designed robotic machine. Developed in the US in 2009 and now approved by the American Food and Drug Administration and licensed for use in the UK, it uses the Da Vinci robot to access this difficult to reach area. It gives the surgeon greater precision, dexterity and accuracy while carrying out the procedure and the patient has no stitches. Infection rates are reduced which speeds up recovery rates, patients are in hospital for just a week and are able to swallow normally soon afterwards [...]

Advaxis recruiting for HPV+ head and neck cancer trial

Source: www.cancertreatment.net Author: Ross Bonander Advaxis is announcing the enrollment of patients into the REALISTIC Phase I/II trial sponsored by Cancer Research UK to evaluate ADXS-HPV for the treatment of HPV-positive head and neck cancer. HPV has been linked to as many as seventy percent of all head and neck cancers. ADXS-HPV is a next-generation immunotherapy that acts as a therapeutic vaccine and is being tested in trials against HPV-associated diseases, including cervical cancers. Cancer Research UK assumes all patient costs. Advaxis seeks to recruit 45 patients. The REALISTIC trial is being carried out at the Aintree Hospital at the University of Liverpool, the Royal Marsden Hospital at the University of London, and the Cardiff Hospital at the University of Wales. Qualified patients will have already received treatment for head and neck cancer, either surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of treatments. Head and neck cancers account for roughly three percent of all cancers in the US, according to the American Cancer Society. They are more commonly diagnosed in men than women, and while they are traditionally linked to smoking and to alcohol consumption, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers are on the rise among white males under 50 years of age. "We are pleased to be working with an internationally-renowned oncology group to further expand the ADXS-HPV clinical development program to another HPV-associated tumor type," said Advaxis Chairman & CEO Thomas A. Moore. "Through this collaboration, we hope that our proprietary technology will be able to offer a new treatment option to [...]

Suicide Rates Among Oral Cancer Patients on the Rise

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com May 23, 2012 -- Suicide rates among patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal (OC/OP) cancer have increased significantly over the past three decades, particularly among male patients during the first year after diagnosis. As many as half of patients with head and neck cancer suffer from depression, among the highest of all oncology patients (Clinical Advances in Hematology & Oncology, June 2009 Vol. 7:6, pp. 397-403). However, despite documented high rates of depression and suicide among patients with head and neck cancer, studies examining suicide and other noncancer-related deaths in patients with OC/OP have not been published. Brian Hill, executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation, survived stage 4 bilateral cervical lymph node metastases from oropharyngeal cancer. This gap prompted researchers from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York Medical College, and Peking University to analyze 32,487 patients with OC/OP cancer using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry data for 1980-1984, 1990-1994, 2000-2003, and 2004-2007 (Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, January 2012, Vol. 138:1, pp. 25-32). They found that from 1980-1984 to 2004-2007, deaths from suicide increased by 406.2% (p = .01), while cardiovascular disease-related and pneumonia-related deaths decreased by 45.9% (p < .001) and 42.9% (p = .009), respectively. Risk factors for mortality included age (55-64), marital status, advanced tumor stage, and tumor location. The researchers also calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for suicide, cardiovascular disease, and pneumonia and compared them with patient demographic and clinical characteristics. The risk of death from [...]

2012-05-24T10:21:11-07:00May, 2012|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

The Dangers of Self Diagnosis via the Internet

Source: ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Do you have a rash and a sore throat? A high fever? A splitting headache? Forget spending time and money on seeing a doctor - there is a plethora of internet sites that will help you diagnose your own illness for free. Simply answer a series of questions about your age, body measurements and symptoms and the internet will do the rest. The Australian Medical Association says it's seriously concerned with the increasing number of WA residents who are doing just that. Last year, a study found nearly 80 per cent of Australians get health information off the net, with almost half of those doing so to diagnose a medical condition. The AMA's Doctor Richard Chong says those statistics seem to reflect local trends in WA. "Every single day I see patients that have come to me after checking their symptoms on the internet," he said. "I accept that it's a part of life now due to the sheer number of people who're more familiar with the internet. "To be honest, most people who do it aren't harmed." "They rush in thinking they have something that's going to kill them when they're actually fine." Dr Chong is, however, concerned about people who don't go to their GP because their research has reassured them that nothing's wrong. "At least with the first group of people, we get to discuss their symptoms because they always come in," he said. "The people that don't are the ones [...]

2012-05-23T09:27:03-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|
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