Oral Cancer News

Nobel Laureate Makes Strong Case for Vaccinating Young Males Against HPV to Prevent Cervical Cancer in Females

Source: Therapeutics Daily AUSTIN, Texas, March 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nobel Prize winner Harald zur Hausen called for vaccinating both young males and females for human papilloma virus (HPV) in an achievable quest to eradicate cervical cancer, which is the second leading type of women's cancer worldwide. Zur Hausen made his remarks at a gathering of more than 1,600 members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology during its 43rd Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer® in Austin. "If we wish to eradicate these types of infections – then theoretically we can do it," zur Hausen said. "And if we wish to achieve this (eradication of HPV) in a foreseeable period of time, then we should vaccinate both genders globally." He pointed out that educational, cultural and religious barriers contribute to the lack of knowledge or willingness to address or discuss the subject by public health officials, teachers, parents and even some physicians. Zur Hausen also said that if society were to vaccinate just one gender to prevent the spread of cervical-cancer causing HPV, it would be more effective to vaccinate just males, highlighting the potential medical value of male HPV vaccinations. Zur Hausen also noted that research shows that early fears of the side effects of the HPV vaccine were overblown, and Australian research shows that there is about one adverse reaction in 100,000 vaccinations, which confirms the safe nature of the vaccine. Keynote speaker for this year's Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer, Harald zur Hausen was awarded the Nobel Prize [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-27T09:45:37-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Complications After Head/Neck Radiation ‘Underreported’

Source: Elsevier Global Medical News Late oral effects of head and neck cancer therapy are "multiple, underreported, and under-appreciated. "That is the perspective of Joel Epstein, D.M.D., who has worked extensively with head and neck cancer patients experiencing severe dental and other oral problems following radiation therapy. "The acute complications of head and neck cancer therapy are pretty well known, but the late complications are underappreciated," Dr. Epstein, director of oral medicine at City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, Calif., told attendees at the symposium. As head and neck cancer treatments have advanced and patients are living longer, the spectrum of treatment complications has shifted, he explained. In a 5-year, prospective longitudinal study of 122 patients with oral carcinoma, dry mouth, sticky saliva, speech changes, dental problems, and sleep disturbance were reported by all patients except those treated only with surgery. These complications persisted at 1 and 5 years and affected quality of life (Head Neck 2008;30:461-70). According to Dr. Epstein, the data illustrate the need for better collaboration between oncologists and dentists. "While people discuss the concept of multidisciplinary [and] interdisciplinary teams for the benefit of our patients, it is unfortunate that dentistry developed separately from physicians and surgeons. So while we need to interact, we're not really well prepared to do so, particularly in the community," he said. Clinically, it's important to evaluate oral care, including brushing, flossing, fluoride, and tobacco abstinence, at all head and neck cancer treatment follow-up visits. Patients should be assessed for xerostomia, speech, swallowing, mucosal sensitivity, and taste. Head and neck and oral exams should include assessments for [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-26T11:58:14-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Maura L. Gillison, M.D., Ph.D., Receives AACR’s Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award

Source: AACR News CHICAGO — The American Association for Cancer Research will award Maura L. Gillison, M.D., Ph.D., with the 36th Annual AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award during the AACR Annual Meeting 2012, held here March 31 – April 4. Gillison is receiving this award in recognition of her significant contributions to the understanding of the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in head and neck cancers. Gillison’s award lecture, “Clinical implications of HPV in head and neck cancers,” will take place at 10 a.m. CT on Wednesday, April 4 in room S100 of the McCormick Place Convention Center. “It is an honor to be the recipient of this award,” said Gillison. “Our team strives to generate data that will improve the lives of individuals affected by head and neck cancers, and this is a wonderful validation that we are on the right track.” This award is designed to provide incentive to young investigators early in their careers. It was established in 1977 by the AACR and the Rosenthal Family Foundation to recognize research that has made, or promises to make, a notable contribution to improved clinical care in the field of cancer. Gillison is a professor of medicine, epidemiology and otolaryngology and the Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio. She is also adjunct faculty at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Md. Her [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-23T09:31:04-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Grant Achatz Drops Malpractice Suits After Four-Year Battle

Source: Crain's Chicago Business Renowned chef Grant Achatz, whose successful battle with tongue cancer added an unusual twist to his story, has dropped his medical malpractice lawsuits filed against Chicago dentists. Mr. Achatz sued two dentists and their practices in April 2008 in Cook County Circuit Court for negligence. He claimed neither took the steps necessary to diagnose his cancer. He sought damages in excess of $50,000 plus court costs. The last of the suits, one filed against Dr. Loveline Dulay and her Wilmette practice, was dismissed Wednesday, according to another defendant's attorney. The medical malpractice trial had already started with jury selection under way, the attorney said. Mr. Achatz's attorney, Chuck Hornewer of Phillips Law Offices of Chicago, declined to comment. Mr. Achatz and his business partner Nick Kokonas opened Alinea in 2005. While it was accumulating accolades from around the country (and eventually from around the world), Mr. Achatz noticed a painful lesion on his tongue. In November 2005 he visited Dr. Dulay, who did not order a biopsy, a decision that Mr. Achatz said was negligent, according to his original complaint. In July 2006, he visited Dr. Michelle Schwartz at Bucktown Wicker Park Dental Associates, who also did not order a biopsy. Mr. Achatz believed she was also negligent, according to the original complaint. By 2007, he was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer, and doctors found the cancer metastasized to his neck. He took part in a University of Chicago clinical trial that used radiation and [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-22T15:24:48-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Wider Surgical Margins Better for Early Tongue Cancer

Source: Dr.Biscuspid.com Wider surgical margins for early tongue tumors may reduce local recurrence and improve survival for most early-stage (T1 or T2) oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tumors, according to a new study in the Journal of Laryngology & Otology. Oral tongue SCC is usually treated with initial surgical resection with or without post-operative chemo- and radiotherapy. Regional recurrences occur in approximately one in four patients with T1 or T2 oral tongue SCC, justifying aggressive treatment, according to the study authors from the University of Melbourne (JLO, March 2012, Vol. 126:3, pp. 289-294). “We feel that wider surgical margins may be justified, being the only prognostic factor that surgeons have the ability to improve.” Among the most important histological factors that impact the prognosis for early oral cancer are lymph node metastases, extracapsular extension, and close or involved surgical margins, they noted. "Although other factors have an impact on adjuvant treatment, surgical margins is the only factor that may be improved by the surgeon," they wrote. Traditionally, a 1-cm margin is taken in all planes around a macroscopic or palpable oral tongue SCC, the study authors noted. Pathologists and clinicians have agreed to define involved margins as less than 1 mm and close margins as 5 mm or less, while margins greater than 5 mm are designated as clear. However, mucosal margins shrink by approximately 30% to 50% with formalin fixation and slide preparation. This results in a final pathological margin of approximately 5 mm where the surgeon measured [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-22T09:18:39-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Court: Tobacco Health Labels Constitutional

Source: Reuters.com Combination picture of new graphic cigarette packages, released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration June 21, 2011, shows a varied collection of a man on a ventilator, diseased lungs and dead bodies were among the graphic images for revamped U.S. tobacco labels, unveiled by health officials who hope the warnings will help smokers quit. Credit: Reuters/U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Handout By Terry Baynes (Reuters) - A U.S. law requiring large graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging and advertising does not violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. Cigarette makers had sued to stop the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new labeling and advertising requirements on grounds the rules violated their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers. But the Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld the bulk of the FDA's new regulatory framework, including the requirement that tobacco companies include large warning images on cigarette packs. The decision comes on the heels of a Washington, D.C., judge's ruling in a different, but related, case that rejected the FDA requirements and seems to set up a clash over the constitutionality of the FDA rules. Floyd Abrams, a lawyer for Lorillard, noted the difference in tone in the two rulings and said the 6th Circuit case, the Washington case, or both, would likely end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. The difference in the two cases is that the FDA had not introduced the specific [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-21T10:43:06-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

AAP Now Recommends HPV Vaccine for Boys and Girls

Source: HemOnc Today The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases issued an updated policy statement on human papillomavirus vaccination that recommends both boys and girls be immunized. The policy statement notes vaccination reduces the incidence of sexually transmitted infections and reduces cancer risk. “Persistent infection with high-risk HPV types is responsible for most cervical and anal cancers in females,” the statement reads. “In males, high-risk HPV types are responsible for a large proportion of cancers of the mouth and pharynx, which are increasing in recent years, and of anal and penile cancers.” There currently is one approved HPV vaccine (HPV4; Gardasil, Merck) for boys and two vaccines — HPV4 and HPV2 (Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline) — approved for girls. The committee recommended that: Girls aged 11 to 12 years should receive three doses of HPV2 or HPV4 — administered intramuscularly at 0, 1 to 2, and 6 months — even if they already are sexually active. Boys aged 11 to 12 years should receive three doses of HPV4 using the same schedule. Females aged 13 to 26 years and males aged 13 to 21 years who were not previously immunized or who are missing a vaccination should complete the full series. Men aged 22 to 26 years who were not immunized previously or who are missing a vaccination may receive the HPV4 series, but “cost-efficacy models do not justify a stronger recommendation in this age group.” The policy statement recommended that women who receive the vaccine continue to undergo cervical [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-21T10:35:17-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Viruses recruited as killers of tumors

Source: nytimes.com Author: Rachel Nuwer In 1951, a 4-year-old boy with leukemia contracted chickenpox. His liver and spleen, swollen by the cancer, soon returned to normal, and his elevated blood cell count fell to that of a healthy child. His doctors at the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology in San Francisco were thrilled by his sudden remission, but the blessing was short-lived. After one month, his leukemia returned and progressed rapidly until the child’s death. In the early 1900s, not much could be done for cancer patients. Unless surgeons could excise a tumor, the disease typically spelled a swift and inevitable end. But in dozens of published cases over the years, doctors noticed a peculiar trend: Struggling cancer patients sometimes enjoyed a brief reprieve from their malignancies when they caught a viral infection. It was not a coincidence. Common viruses sometimes attack tumor cells, researchers discovered. For decades, they tried to harness this phenomenon, to transform it into a cancer treatment. Now, after a long string of failures, they are nearing success with viruses engineered to kill cancer. “It’s a very exciting time,” said Dr. Robert Martuza, chief neurosurgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. “I think it will work out in some tumor, with some virus.” Candidates are already in advanced trials, he noted. Cancer cells are able to replicate wildly, but there’s a trade-off: They cannot ward off infection as effectively as healthy cells. So scientists have been looking for ways to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-03-20T12:21:26-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Nearly 800,000 Deaths Prevented Due to Declines in Smoking

Source: National Cancer Institute Twentieth-century tobacco control programs and policies were responsible for preventing more than 795,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States from 1975 through 2000, according to an analysis funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. If all cigarette smoking in this country had ceased following the release of the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health in 1964, a total of 2.5 million people would have been spared from death due to lung cancer in the 36 years following that report, according to the analysis. The results of this study were published online March 14, 2012, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “These findings provide a compelling illustration of the devastating impact of tobacco use in our nation and the enormous benefits of reducing rates of smoking,” said Robert Croyle, Ph.D., director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at NCI. “Although great strides have been made, we cannot relax our efforts. The prevention and cessation of tobacco use continue to be vital priorities for the medical, scientific, and public health communities.” The researchers, part of the NCI-sponsored Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET), utilized a comparative modeling approach in which they constructed detailed cigarette smoking histories for individuals born from 1890 through 1970, and then related the histories to lung cancer mortality in mathematical models. Using these models, the researchers were able to estimate the impact of changes in smoking patterns resulting [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-19T09:45:14-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

New indicator may help Identify patients with increased risk from throat cancer

Source: www.onclive.com Author: staff Patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma who had "matted" lymph nodes -- nodes that are connected together -- are more likely to metastasize than those without matted lymph nodes, according to a study published online in the journal Head & Neck. Metastases account for about 45% of the deaths among patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma, wrote Douglas B. Chepeha, MD, MPH, an associate professor of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. "Our findings may help doctors identify patients who are at higher risk for having their cancer metastasize and who would benefit from additional systemic therapy," he said, adding that the opposite was also true -- those without matted nodes might benefit from reducing therapy. The researchers tracked 78 patients who were part of a clinical trial evaluating 2 cancer drugs with intensity-modulated radiation therapy. All of the treatment-naive patients had stage III-IV squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx. Sixteen of the 78 patients had matted nodes. They found that patients with matted nodes had a 69% survival rate over 3 years, compared with 94% for patients without matted nodes. The risk was independent of other prognostic factors, such as the patient's history of smoking, alcohol use, or human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Matted nodes appear to be an especially strong indicator of increased risk among patients who are HPV-positive. However, HPVpositive patients had better overall outcomes than HPV-negative patients did. The patients with the best outcomes were HPV-positive [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-03-19T07:12:42-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|