Oral Cancer News – Page 168

Caring for the oral health of patients battling cancer: oral care before cancer treatment

Source: www.dentistryiq.com/ Author: Dennis M. Abbott, D.D.S. Cancer. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it as “the disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body;” but for the millions of people it has touched, cancer is so much more. Cancer is a constant unwanted companion that opens the door to an unchosen journey and demands to be followed. It affects individuals, families and friends. Cancer changes lives. Beyond the emotional toll it imposes, cancer alters the well-being of those it afflicts. Modern treatment regimens given to combat this disease come with a host of deleterious side effects, many of which occur in the mouth. Dentists, dental hygienists and dental auxiliaries are in a unique and necessary position to make a positive impact in the lives of patients battling cancer Making a difference begins with a desire to help and a willingness to take a risk. It is followed by a commitment to learn about the unique oral health care needs of patients engaged in the fight of their lives and put into practice skills that can literally provide comfort and hope. We, as dental professionals, can and should be a part of a comprehensive cancer care team for an ever-growing number of people facing cancer. Dental Oncology Dental oncology is a focus of dentistry dedicated to meeting the unique dental and oral health care needs that arise as a result of cancer therapy. It is an area of oral medicine devoted to improving [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-12T08:48:16-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Adaptive radiotherapy may benefit patients with head and neck cancer

Source: News-Medical.net Researchers led by a senior investigator at Hofstra-North Shore LIJ School of Medicine and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have released initial findings from a first-of-a-kind clinical trial in adaptive radiotherapy (ART) for head and neck cancer. The trial, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, provides evidence that ART may benefit patients with less technical difficulty than previously believed. The findings of this trial were released online in advance of publication in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics. Physicians commonly use radiotherapy to treat squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (back of throat). Current standard-of-care treatment is called intensity-modulated radiotherapy, or IMRT. IMRT allows physicians to "sculpt" radiation to fit the anatomy of individual patients. Although appealing, this technique has a crucial Achilles' heel - it is based entirely on a CT or MRI scan taken before actual treatment begins. Since a typical course of radiation treatment for oropharynx cancer lasts 6-7 weeks, standard IMRT cannot compensate for common changes that take place in a patient's body during this time, such as weight loss, shrinkage of tumor, or gradual movement of normal tissues. Recent work suggests that the inability of standard IMRT to keep up with these changes may lead to unanticipated toxicity, or potentially worse, missing of tumor. For this new trial, which was conducted at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, investigators started patients on standard IMRT. They then took CT scans while patients were lying in the radiation treatment room [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-10T10:40:11-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Cisplatin Aids Survival of High-Risk Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Oncology Report Adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy improved 10-year survival of resectable head and neck carcinomas among high-risk patients who had microscopically involved resection margins and/or extracapsular spread of disease – but not in high-risk patients who only had tumor in multiple lymph nodes. The findings come from a long-term update and unplanned subset analysis of 410 evaluable patients from the RTOG (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group) 9501 phase III study, which previously showed no overall survival advantage from the addition of cisplatin chemotherapy to radiation. The new data are "good news," according to lead author Dr. Jay Cooper, director of Maimonides Cancer Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. "We now can eradicate some advanced head and neck tumors that we couldn’t before by adding chemotherapy to radiation therapy. At the same time, we can spare other patients who would not do better with the addition of chemotherapy from its side effects," he said at a head and neck cancer symposium sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Therapy. The RTOG 9501 study randomized 459 patients with high-risk, resected head and neck cancers to receive either radiation therapy of 60 Gy in 6 weeks (RT), or identical radiotherapy plus cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 IV on days 1, 22, and 43 (RT+CT). When reported at a median follow-up of 45.9 months, the locoregional control rate was significantly higher in the combined-therapy group than in the group given radiotherapy alone (hazard ratio for locoregional recurrence, 0.61); disease-free survival was significantly longer with combined therapy (HR [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-08T10:06:10-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

3D printer provides woman with a brand new jaw

Source: New Scientist An 83-year-old Belgian woman is able to chew, speak and breathe normally again after a machine printed her a new jawbone. Made from a fine titanium powder sculpted by a precision laser beam, her replacement jaw has proven as functional as her own used to be before a potent infection, called osteomyelitis, all but destroyed it. The medics behind the feat say it is a first. "This is a world premiere, the first time a patient‐specific implant has replaced the entire lower jaw," says Jules Poukens, the researcher who led the operation at Biomed, the biomedical research department of the University of Hasselt, in Belgium. "It's a cautious, but firm step." Until now, the largest 3D-printed implant is thought to have been half of a man's upper jawbone, in a 2008 operation in Finland. In this operation, a 3D printed titanium scaffold was steeped in stem cells and allowed to grow biocompatible tissue inside the abdomen of the recipient. Then, in 2009, researchers reported successfully printing copies of whole thumb bones - opening the way for the replacement of smashed digits using information from MRI scans. Poukens' team worked with researchers in Belgium and the Netherlands and a 3D printing firm called Layerwise in Leuven, Belgium, which specialises in printing with ultrastrong titanium to make dental implants (like bridges and crowns) and facial and spinal bone implants. By using an MRI scan of their patient's ailing jawbone to get [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-07T20:51:57-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

PET/CT Detects Early Recurrence of Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Elsevier Global Medical News Routine use of positron emission tomography/computed tomography scans can detect locoregional recurrences of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck before they became clinically apparent, according to a retrospective chart review of 234 patients who had been treated with chemoradiation between 2006 and 2010.  The finding suggests that routine use of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) may improve the outcome of salvage therapy, said Dr. Yasir Rudha, who reported the study at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Symposium sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology.  PET/CT was associated with a high false positive rate, which should be considered when ordering radiological exams and biopsies, but a negative post therapy PET scan appears to be an excellent predictor of freedom from future locoregional recurrence, said Dr. Rudha of St. John Hospital/Van Elslander Cancer Center, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.  The technology is relatively new, and its use for routine follow-up in patients with head and neck cancer is still controversial, he acknowledged. "Only a few publications have reported the value of PET examination at a fixed time interval after the end of treatment," he said. "PET scan is often ordered in our hospital as a routine surveillance tool following successful completion of treatment."  The review of charts for all 234 patients identified 45 who had achieved clinical no-evidence-of-disease status at the time of post treatment imaging. In this group, PET/CT scanning at 6-9 weeks identified 15 patients with abnormalities that required further evaluation. Of those, eight patients (53%) were [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-06T11:45:04-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Head and neck cancer carries substantial comorbidity burden

Source: MedWire News People with head and neck cancer experience a high burden of both acute and chronic comorbidity, shows an analysis of a large Dutch population-based cohort. The researchers therefore advise clinicians to account for patients' comorbidity burden when assessing the risk-benefit profile for different treatment options. Sarah Landis (GlaxoSmithKline, London, UK) and co-workers analyzed information on 1499 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) living in the Netherlands. For each patient they calculated prevalence and incidence rates of eight comorbid conditions: cardiovascular disease, asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), liver disease, diabetes, anemia, pneumonia, depression, and other malignant disease. Rates of the same eight conditions were also calculated in a control population of 5996 cancer-free individuals matched for age and gender. Writing in the journal Head and Neck, Landis et al report that the mean age of the SCCHN cohort was 62 years and two-thirds were male. The site of cancer was the oral cavity in 610 patients, the pharynx in 317, and the larynx in 572. The most prevalent comorbidities in patients with SCCHN were cardiovascular disease (41%) and asthma/COPD (12%); the other comorbidities were prevalent in less than 10% of patients. Notably, in the period of 12 months prior to the index date, patients with SCCHN were between two and four times as likely as cancer-free controls to have any of the comorbidities investigated, the authors remark. In terms of incidence, rates of all comorbidities (with the exception of other malignant diseases) were [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-06T10:16:32-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

UT MD Anderson article offers one roadmap for defining value in health care, earns national award from leading journal

Source: http://www.newswise.com Author: University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center A team from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is receiving a national award for a research article tackling a question vital to the future of health care with reform regulations looming, competition growing and costs rising. The MD Anderson study took on the complex question of defining value in health care and for its paper that outlines one approach, the team has been awarded the 2012 Edgar C. Hayhow Article of the Year Award. Presented by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the winning paper appeared in the organization's publication, the Journal of Healthcare Management, in the November/December 2010 issue. The Hayhow Award was created in 1959 as a tribute to the organization's 14th chair and the first practicing administrator to earn a doctoral degree. The award will be presented in March at the ACHE's annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago. "The medical community understands how fundamental the concept of value is to improve the quality and delivery of care because it impacts patients, hospitals, physicians, insurance providers and regulators," said Thomas W. Feeley, M.D., professor and head of the Division of Anesthesiology and Critical Care and the corresponding author of the study. "We've been looking at this complex question for many years and our paper outlines an approach that has been successful at MD Anderson and one that, we believe, can be applied throughout our institution. While we don't assert that this approach [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-03T19:56:16-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Tumeric and Curcumin offer powerful anti-cancer health benefits naturally

Source: www.sacbee.com Author: staff Commonly used in many Eastern countries, tumeric has been found to suppress cancer growth and reduce brain tumors by an astounding 81% without evidence of toxicity. While the benefits of turmeric are just coming to light within the mainstream and alternative media, it has been known for quite some time that this inexpensive spice can profoundly improve biological function. Curcumin, a natural phenol and derivative of turmeric, may be responsible for many of these effects -- particularly the anti-cancer benefits. Used by ancient Chinese and Indian systems of medicine, curcumin has been shown to reduce brain tumor size by 81% in 9 out of 11 studies. With the research published in the July edition of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, scientists found that curcumin dramatically decreased the size of brain tumors by 81% in 9 out of 11 studies without evidence of toxicity. Additional research has found that turmeric and curcumin also inhibit the spread of cancer by actually blocking a key enzyme responsible for its growth. Given chewable curcumin supplements containing 1,000 milligrams of curcumin each, 21 study participants with head and neck cancer experienced a halt in cancer spread after intake. Conducted by the UCLA, the results were examined by an independent lab in Maryland which confirmed that curcumin supplements ultimately stopped the spread of malignant cancer cells. Curcumin gives turmeric its unique color, and each 100 grams of turmeric contains 3 to 5 grams of the compound. Some health experts believe that turmeric [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-03T19:49:29-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Cisplatin aids survival of high-risk head and neck cancer

Source: www.oncologyreport.com Author: Miriam E. Tucker Adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy improved 10-year survival of resectable head and neck carcinomas among high-risk patients who had microscopically involved resection margins and/or extracapsular spread of disease – but not in high-risk patients who only had tumor in multiple lymph nodes. The findings come from a long-term update and unplanned subset analysis of 410 evaluable patients from the RTOG (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group) 9501 phase III study, which previously showed no overall survival advantage from the addition of cisplatin chemotherapy to radiation. The new data are "good news," according to lead author Dr. Jay Cooper, director of Maimonides Cancer Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. "We now can eradicate some advanced head and neck tumors that we couldn’t before by adding chemotherapy to radiation therapy. At the same time, we can spare other patients who would not do better with the addition of chemotherapy from its side effects," he said at a head and neck cancer symposium sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Therapy. The RTOG 9501 study randomized 459 patients with high-risk, resected head and neck cancers to receive either radiation therapy of 60 Gy in 6 weeks (RT), or identical radiotherapy plus cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 IV on days 1, 22, and 43 (RT+CT). When reported at a median follow-up of 45.9 months, the locoregional control rate was significantly higher in the combined-therapy group than in the group given radiotherapy alone (hazard ratio for locoregional recurrence, 0.61); disease-free survival was significantly longer with [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-03T19:44:50-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer Patients’ Health Benefits From Physical Activity

Source: MedicalNewsToday.com According to an investigation published on bmj.com, cancer patients who have completed their primary cancer-related treatment, who engage in physical activity, can enhance their health. Earlier studies discovered that individuals with cancer anticipate to return to normal daily activities after completing their primary cancer-related treatment. However, these patients often find they experience lower physical activity, increased fatigue and a decrease in quality of life (QOL). Although, several health factors including QOL can be enhanced through engaging in exercise, according to studies. Investigators from the University of Hong Kong examined the results of 34 human trials that evaluated how exercise effects adult individuals with cancer. Each trial consisted of an average of 93 participants who had either suffered from prostate, breast, lung, colorectal, gynecologic or gastric cancer. The average age of the participants was 55 years. The trials included resistance, strength and aerobic training for a median duration of 13 weeks. Health improvements, such as BMI and body weight, blood sugar control, lower limb strength, fatigue, depression and QOL, were observed among participant's who received breast cancer treatment who engaged in a period of physical activity. Improvements, such as oxygen consumption, depression, BMI, body weight, handgrip strength and QOL, were also observed among patients who completed treatments for other types of cancer. Furthermore, variations in intensity and type of physical activity influenced the physical health of cancer patients and played a vital role in the effects of the exercise. Individuals with breast cancer found that resistance and aerobic exercise [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-03T10:35:20-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|