Oral Cancer News – Page 174

New Irish cancer map reveals pattern of disease by geographical area

Source: www.independent.ie Author: Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Where you live can have a bearing on how high a risk you run of contracting a specific type of cancer. That is a key conclusion of a major new survey by the National Cancer Registry and its northern equivalent. It shows that between 1995-2007: - Those living on coasts and in urban areas have a higher risk of both types of skin cancer; - Those living around Cork city and in a band across the north of the island have a higher risk of bowel cancer. - Lung cancer risk is higher in urban areas such as Dublin, Cork, Derry, Belfast and in the east - Prostate cancer risk was much higher in the Republic than in the North. - Stomach cancer risk was highest in a band running from Dublin to Donegal; - The risk of many cancers is related to how much social or economic deprivation there is in an area. For example lung, stomach, head and neck and cervical cancer risk was found to be higher in areas of high unemployment or where fewer go on to higher education. However, skin, breast and prostate cancer risk was lower in these areas. Generally, the risk of cancer risk is higher in more densely populated areas and where there are larger numbers of elderly living. National Cancer Registry director Dr Harry Comber said the differences can mostly be explained by people's lifestyles, including smoking, drinking, obesity, diet and sexual behaviour. People [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-09T07:00:58-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

MRI shows promise for oral cancer staging

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could play an important role in the diagnosis of oral cancer, according to a study in Brazilian Oral Researcher (December 2011, Vol. 25:6, pp. 512-518). Researchers from the University Center of Anapolis School of Dentistry compared clinical staging and MRI staging for oral cancer in 10 patients diagnosed with oral cancer. A head and neck surgeon performed standard TNM staging, while two medical radiologists and two oral radiologists performed a new staging assessment by interpreting MRI studies, without prior knowledge of the clinical staging. Each evaluated the extent of the primary tumor (T), metastasis to regional lymph nodes (N), and grouping by stages. There was significant agreement (p

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-09T06:53:40-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

UI professors: HPV editorial misses the mark

Source: The Daily Iowan The Nov. 29 editorial "Recommend Pap smears, not vaccines, to prevent cervical cancer" completely missed the mark with regard to HPV vaccines. We are researchers and clinicians at the University of Iowa who study and treat HPV and other infectious diseases. It is disturbing to think that the article might dissuade individuals from getting a safe and effective vaccine that can prevent cancer. First of all, it has been conclusively demonstrated that the vaccines are effective at preventing HPV infection. Cervical cancer is caused by HPV. Additionally, cancers of the head and neck are linked to HPV, including cancers in males. It has been clearly shown that the vaccines prevent the development of precursors to cervical cancer. In the editorial, Dr. Diane Harper was quoted as saying, "If doctors tell patients that this vaccination will prevent cancer, they're telling them a lie." This statement from Dr. Harper is simply misleading. In the vaccine studies, non-treatment of precursor lesions in the placebo group in the context of a clinical trial was considered unethical, and therefore, any precursor lesions were treated. Subsequent development of cancer in the placebo group was prevented by the required ethical treatment. Thus, the trials could not evaluate prevention of advanced cancer, per se. Because it takes cervical cancer a long time to develop, it will take about 15 more years to have data on incidence rates of cervical cancer from a large vaccinated general population. Because the vaccines prevent HPV infection and HPV-associated [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-08T10:31:17-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Computer scientists may have what it takes to help cure cancer

Source: nytimes.com Author: David Patterson The war against cancer is increasingly moving into cyberspace. Computer scientists may have the best skills to fight cancer in the next decade — and they should be signing up in droves. One reason to enlist: Cancer is so pervasive. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Emperor of All Maladies,” the oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee writes that cancer is a disease of frightening fractions: One-fourth of deaths in the United States are caused by cancer; one-third of women will face cancer in their lifetimes; and so will half of men. As he wrote, “The question is not if we will get this immortal disease, but when.” Dr. Mukherjee noted that surprisingly recently, researchers discovered that cancer is a genetic disease, caused primarily by mutations in our DNA. As well as providing the molecular drivers of cancer, changes to the DNA also cause the diversity within a cancer tumor that makes it so hard to eradicate completely. The hope is that by sequencing the genome of a cancer tumor, doctors will soon be able to prescribe a personalized, targeted therapy to stop a cancer’s growth or to cure it. According to Walter Isaacson’s new biography “Steve Jobs,” a team of medical researchers sequenced the Apple executive’s pancreatic cancer tumor and used that information to decide which drug therapies to use. Since Mr. Jobs’s cancer had already spread, this effort was even more challenging. Each sequencing cost $100,000. Fortunately for the rest of us, the cost of turning [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-08T10:17:58-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Medical Students Knowledge in the UK

Source: HighWire- Stanford University There has been little improvement in the survival of patients with oral cancer despite advances in treatment, and late presentation of the disease is one reason for this poor outcome. Research and experience tell us that tuition in medical schools about examination of the oral cavity is poor. We aimed to ascertain the opinions and experience of students regarding this in our institution by dissemination of a web-based anonymous questionnaire that focused on education about examination of the oral cavity and experience in carrying it out. From a cohort of 600 students 458 (76%) responded. A total of 334 (73%) had not been taught how to examine the oral cavity, 372 (81%) had had no experience of doing so in patients, and only 13/86 (15%) felt confident to diagnose a carcinoma of the lip or oral cavity. Eighty-nine percent felt that the tuition given had not been adequate. Examination of the oral cavity cannot be considered part of the core clinical curriculum, and medical schools and departments of oral and maxillofacial surgery urgently need to embrace the introduction of the necessary skills. This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-06T10:46:58-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Lymphedema Common After Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Elsevier Global Medical News SAN FRANCISCO (EGMN) - Lymphedema is highly common and a source of considerable morbidity among patients who undergo treatment for head and neck cancer, finds a cross-sectional study among 103 survivors. Fully three-fourths had developed some degree of lymphedema, according to results presented at the annual Oncology Congress presented by Reed Medical Education. The more severe it was, the more likely patients were to have symptoms, functional impairments, and poorer quality of life. Disease and treatment-related factors such as high radiation dose and combined surgery and radiation therapy were risk factors for the development of lymphedema. "This is the first study that we are aware of in the United States of this depth to systematically examine lymphedema" in this population, noted lead investigator Jie Deng, Ph.D., R.N., O.C.N., a postdoctoral fellow at the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. "Health care professionals should be aware that lymphedema is a frequent late effect in the head and neck cancer population," she advised. "We need to educate patients about the risk of lymphedema prior to treatment, during treatment, and posttreatment, and we need to conduct external and internal examinations to evaluate related signs and symptoms at each clinic visit." Patients found to have any signs or symptoms should be referred for lymphedema assessment. Furthermore, "it's very important we have very detailed documentation so we can follow up on patients' treatment effect and also identify potential issues in this population," Dr. Deng stressed. "An interdisciplinary approach is needed to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-06T10:29:30-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Boys need the cervical cancer jab, too

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk Author: Max Pemberton Few politicians will ever admit they are wrong, so I salute health ministers who have finally capitulated to medical opinion and last month announced a U-turn on the cervical cancer vaccine that is given to 12- and 13-year-old girls. Until now, Cervarix, which protects against two strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV) that are a factor in at least 70 per cent of diagnoses, has been the NHS vaccine of choice. However, another vaccine, Gardasil, also protects against a further two strains of HPV which cause genital warts, the most common sexually-transmitted infection, requiring costly and unpleasant treatment. As doctors have been arguing for some time, this has important public health implications. The current cost to the NHS of treating the 100,000 new cases of genital warts in England each year is £23 million. In several countries, including Australia, where Gardasil has been used in nationwide vaccination programmes, a 75 per cent decrease in the number of new cases of genital warts in the past three years has been reported. Critics of NHS policy complained that Cervarix was chosen over Gardasil not on the basis of clinical efficacy but because its manufacturers offered it at a discounted price, making it the most cost-effective. Indeed, many doctors have admitted in the medical press that they have bought Gardasil for their daughters privately, while they had to give their patients Cervarix. But ministers have seen sense as now Gardasil will be available on the NHS. But the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-05T09:29:57-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Higher level of education linked to decreased mortality rates for oral cavity, pharynx cancers

Source: www.hemonctoday.com Author: Camille Ragin, PhD, MPH Overall mortality rates for oral cavity and pharynx cancer declined for all patient groups from 1993 to 2007, but high school graduates experienced the largest reductions in mortality compared with those who attained less than 12 years of education. Black men (–4.95%) and women with 12 years of education (–3.72%) experienced the largest decline in mortality. Black women with more than 12 years of education were the only group that did not experience significant decreases in mortality. Mortality rates increased significantly among all white men, except for those with more than 12 years of education. “Mortality rates for patients with oral cavity and pharynx cancers decreased significantly among men and women with more than 12 years of education, regardless of race/ethnicity (except for black women), whereas rates increased among white men with less than 12 years of education,” the researchers wrote. “Throughout the entire study period, mortality rates have remained highest among the least educated and lowest among those with some college education, regardless of sex or race/ethnicity.” Only patients with at least 12 years of education experienced decreases in mortality for HPV-unrelated cancer sites. Mortality rates increased 2.72% per year for white men with less than 12 years of education (P,.01). Conversely, mortality rates for HPV-related cancers decreased among black men. Among white men, mortality rates increased 1.58% per year for HPV-related cancers during the study period. People with more education typically have higher income, more resources and they’re more likely to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-05T09:24:59-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

The one thing Rick Perry did right: A shot that stops cancer, the politics of sex and HPV prevention

Source: CultureMap.com I don’t like Rick Perry — I never voted for him and worked actively to try to oust him — but in 2006 he tried to do something good for young girls in Texas. He tried to mandate vaccinations for sixth grade girls with a drug that prevented HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), the devil behind cervical cancer. This virus is responsible for the deaths of 4,000 young women each year in the United States. When Perry announced his mandate, the shit hit the fan and his conservative base (which is most of the state) went ballistic. The social conservatives objected to the vaccine as an infringement on parental rights, and small government conservatives were alarmed at Perry’s aggressive use of executive power. Needless to say, Perry backed off, and the vaccine was off to a miserable start. Six years later, fewer than 33 percent of girls ages 11 to 26 have received all three doses of the HPV vaccine, and Perry is still paying a political price for it. Not just for girls Well, it now appears that boys aren’t “immune” from HPV’s effects. After all, girls have to get infected from somewhere, right? Doctors have observed that young men were getting throat cancers that were usually seen in older, tobacco-using men. Also, there was an increase in anal cancers. Who do you think the culprit behind this was? HPV. It turns out that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease: between 75 and 80 percent of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-02T12:39:52-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine myths put health, lives at risk, say health leaders: Airing the facts

Source: TheNationsHealth.org Vaccination rates for human papillomavirus are lagging for teens, and a complicated web of confusion and misinformation may be to blame, according to public health leaders. Several strains of HPV can cause cervical cancer, and two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, have been shown conclusively to defend against those strains. The Food and Drug Administration recommended in 2006 that girls receive the vaccine before they become sexually active so that they are protected at the outset. In 2009, FDA approved the use of the vaccine for boys as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 6 million people in the U.S. become infected with HPV each year and each year about 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, leading to about 4,000 deaths. Studies have shown the vaccine to be overwhelmingly safe, CDC said. As of June 2011, about 35 million doses of Gardasil had been distributed in the United States. CDC’s adverse event tracking mechanisms reported about 18,000 adverse events, 92 percent of which were nonserious events, such as fainting, swelling at the injection site and headache. Sixty-eight deaths were reported, but there is “no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine, and some reports indicated a cause of death unrelated to vaccination,” CDC said. And yet, fed perhaps by misinformation or squeamishness about the idea of their children becoming sexually active, some parents are opting not to vaccinate, and the vaccination rates are [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-01T12:41:51-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|