Oral Cancer News – Page 185

Chicago Blackhawks legend Stan Makita optimistic regardless of having mouth cancer

Source: blogs.bettor.com Author: staff Chicago Blackhawks legendary centre player, Stan Mikita, was diagnosed with stage 1 of oral cancer in May of this year, a shocking revelation the former player made through the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, but luckily, it has termed to be not life-threatening. Since his diagnosis, Mikita, also a Hall of Famer expressed that recently he is beginning to feel much better about the situation and explains it as something which has not hampered his day-to-day activities. He still does everything in his usual manner, something that is more than he could have asked for at the age of 71. “I will know in 10 days how my recovery is when I see the doctor”, Mikita said at the Blackhawks Alumni golf outing named for him at Medinah Country Club. “I’m looking for very favorable comments from him. I might need some work done probably, but I hope it’s not forever. It’s been coming along real well”. Mikita played all 22 seasons of his career in one of the most loyal ways and that was with Chicago Blackhawks. It all began after he was picked up for his performance in the St. Catharines Teepees in the Junior Ontario Hockey Association. He played his first three games during the 1958-1959 season and went on all the way till 1979-1980. Fans who see him in this condition cannot help but ask about the progression. "The best part is, (they ask) 'Are you on skates yet'?" Mikita said, smiling. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-24T08:44:05-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Life After Tongue Cancer, & a Total Glossectomy

Source: UCSF Medical Center Author: Sierra Tzoore Tongue cancer is uncommon, and it's especially unusual for it to strike a young person who doesn't smoke or drink heavily. Kate Brown was just 32 years old, recently married and beginning a new job, when she learned that a spot on her tongue was stage III tongue cancer. Brown was referred to UCSF Medical Center, where surgeons recommended a drastic treatment that was her best shot at survival: a total glossectomy, or tongue removal, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Four years later, Brown is cancer-free and, unlike many patients who undergo total glossectomy, able to eat and speak understandably. We asked Brown about her treatment and path to recovery. How did you discover you had tongue cancer? A small sore appeared on my tongue when I had a sore throat. I took antibiotics for the sore throat, but the spot was still there after the sore throat subsided. I then started to have ear pain and the sore got larger. I was prescribed antibiotics again. When my doctor looked in my ear she didn't see any swelling, but the earache became unbearably painful. I'd never been in pain like that. In my heart of hearts, I knew at that point that something was terribly wrong, but I wasn't sure what it was. I decided to see another doctor, who referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Ivor Emanuel at California Pacific Medical Center. Dr. Emanuel's specialty is allergies but I think [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-08-22T12:33:47-07:00August, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Oral epithelial dysplasia: What does it really mean?

Source: www.rdhmag.com Author: Nancy W. Burkhart, RDH, EdD Patients are sometimes followed for periods of time for what is called dysplasia, leukoplakia, keratotic lesions, and previous frank carcinoma. With any degree of tissue change, the person should be followed closely and an etiology always needs to be determined. Sometimes, removal of a frictional component is suggested; at other times, the lesion may have a more ominous appearance that will alert the clinician that cancer might be high on the differential list. Obviously, in highly suspicious lesions, a biopsy would occur immediately. Patients will sometimes tell the clinician that they were previously biopsied and the report will note "evidence of dysplasia." Sometimes a diagnosis is made of dysplasia, but the lesion becomes carcinoma over time, even after the initial removal of the lesion. The reverse may be true as well, where the body responds physically and the tissue regains a state of health. Why does one individual develop carcinoma while another person may develop a mild epithelial dysplasia? Perhaps the body is able to stop progression or reverse the state of progression. These are questions that researchers continue to evaluate and study. Frictional keratosis, though, is not in the same category as dysplasia. When the frictional component is removed, the lesion will subside. An example of a common lesion that has a frictional component is cheek chewing or morsicatio buccarum. However, chronic frictional or chemical assault on the tissue over time can also cause dysplastic changes. The body has [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-18T18:12:31-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Dental Care Denied by Medicare Turns into Major Lawsuit

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com Medicare's refusal to cover extensive dental treatment that is often needed to treat patients with diseases such as oral cancer and Sjögren's syndrome is unreasonable and arbitrary, according to a lawsuit pending in U.S. federal court. The litigation, originally filed in 2008 on behalf of one plaintiff, was recently amended by the Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on behalf of three Medicare beneficiaries who needed medically related dental care stemming from underlying medical conditions. Medicare policy, which excludes coverage of "routine" dental care, does cover dental services when they are "incident to and an integral part of" eligible medical care. Dental procedures that are covered include extractions in preparation of radiation treatment of neoplastic disease, reconstruction of ridges that are performed simultaneously with the surgical removal of oral tumors, and the wiring of teeth if done in connection with jaw fractures. "We have argued that this is a misinterpretation of the Medicare statute," said CMA attorney Sally Hart, who filed the suit. "We think that beneficiaries who require extensive dental services because of damage from Sjögren's syndrome, as well as cancer radiation treatment and other conditions that destroy the production of saliva, should not fall within the exclusion." CMS does not comment on pending litigation, CMS spokesman Tony Salters told DrBicuspid.com. Why coverage denied Each of the plaintiffs in the CMA lawsuit suffered a serious medical condition, resulting in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-16T16:04:15-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Resveratrol Selectively Induces DNA Damage, Independent of Smad4 Expression, in Its Efficacy against Human Head & Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Source: Clinical Cancer Research Author: Robert A. Sclafani, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Campus Box 8101, Room 9100, Aurora, CO 80045. Phone: 303-724-3271; Fax: 303-724-3215; E-mail:[email protected] Abstract Purpose: Alterations in Smad4 signaling and its loss cause genomic instability and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), suggesting that agents that target both Smad4-dependent and -independent pathways could control HNSCC. Experimental Design: Resveratrol efficacy was evaluated against the HNSCC cells FaDu, Cal27, Det562, and Cal27-Smad4 for viability, DNA damage, cell-cycle progression, and apoptosis, as well as γ-H2AX expression, and focus formation (γ-H2AX and Brca1). Resveratrol efficacy was also examined in nude mice for FaDu xenograft growth. Xenografts were analyzed for γ-H2AX and cleaved caspase-3. Results: Resveratrol (5–50 μmol/L) suppressed viability and induced DNA damage in FaDu and Cal27 cells but not in normal human epidermal keratinocytes and human foreskin fibroblasts, showing its selectivity toward HNSCC cells; however, Det562 cells were resistant to resveratrol even at 100 μmol/L. Cal27 cells stably transfected withSmad4 showed similar resveratrol effects as parental Cal27, indicating that a lack of resveratrol effect in Det562 cells was independent of Smad4 status in these cells. Furthermore, resveratrol caused S-phase arrest and apoptotic death of FaDu and Cal27 cells together with induction of Brca1 and γ-H2AX foci. Resveratrol (50 mg/kg body weight) treatment also inhibited FaDu tumor growth in nude mice, and γ-H2AX and cleaved caspase-3 were strongly increased in xenografts from resveratrol-treated mice compared with controls. Conclusion: Our findings for the first time showed antiproliferative, DNA damaging, and apoptotic effects of resveratrol in [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-08-15T10:20:48-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Asparagus as antimicrobial agent in oral cancer infections

Source: www.insidecosmeceuticals.com Author: staff According to Indian researchers, treated oral cancer patients are neutropenic and prone to secondary infection of microbes, and medicinal plants such as asparagus may serve as effective antimicrobial agents to check the secondary infections in treated oral cancer patients (Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2011;10:21). Suppression of immune system in treated cancer patients may lead to secondary infections that obviate the need of antibiotics. In the present study, an attempt was made to understand the occurrence of secondary infections in immunosuppressed patients along with herbal control of these infections with the following objectives to: (a) isolate the microbial species from the treated oral cancer patients along with the estimation of absolute neutrophile counts of patients (b) assess the in vitro antimicrobial activity medicinal plants against the above clinical isolates. Blood and oral swab cultures were taken from 40 oral cancer patients undergoing treatment in the radiotherapy unit of Regional Cancer Institute, Pt. B.D.S. Health University,Rohtak, Haryana. Clinical isolates were identified by following general microbiological, staining and biochemical methods. The absolute neutrophile counts were done by following the standard methods. The medicinal plants selected for antimicrobial activity analysis were Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav., Asparagus racemosus Willd., Balanites aegyptiaca L., Cestrum diurnum L., Cordia dichotoma G. Forst, Eclipta alba L., Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. , Pedalium murex L., Ricinus communis L. and Trigonella foenum graecum L. Prevalent bacterial pathogens isolated were Staphylococcus aureus (23.2 percent), Escherichia coli (15.62 percent), Staphylococcus epidermidis (12.5 percent), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.37 percent), Klebsiella pneumonia (7.81 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T12:53:42-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Neoprobe enrolling patients in head and neck cancer trial

Source: www.medcitynews.com Author: Brandon Glenn Cancer diagnostics company Neoprobe is continuing to enroll patients in a phase 3 head and neck cancer clinical trial of its radiopharmaceutical Lymphoseek. The trial is aimed at expanding Lymphoseek’s label to cover procedures known as sentinel lymph node biopsies, CEO Mark Pykett said in a conference call with investors. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to which cancer is likely to spread from the primary tumor, according to the National Cancer Institute. Neoprobe on Wednesday announced that it had filed a New Drug Application for Lymphoseek, but that filing sought labeling for a different clinical indication: intraoperative lymphatic mapping, which is a surgical oncology procedure in which lymph nodes draining the area around a tumor are identified to determine if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. That procedure is typically used for patients with breast cancer or melanoma. Neoprobe’s head and neck cancer clinical trial is expected to enroll 200 patients. The study’s estimated completion date is March 2013, according to information the company has filed with the National Institutes of Health. In addition to expanding Lymphoseek’s label, Neoprobe is looking to strike deals with potential European and Asian distribution, and sales and marketing partners for the drug. Cardinal Health is handling U.S. distribution and sales and marketing of Lymphoseek. Lymphoseek has not been approved for sales anywhere in the world, but could obtain approval in the U.S. by the middle of next year. Here’s how Pykett laid out his [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T12:49:35-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Stroke and TIA risk doubled by radiotherapy, study finds

Source: www.imt.ie Author: Mary Anne Kenny The risk of transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or ischaemic stroke is at least doubled by head and neck radiotherapy, a problem increasing in urgency as patients survive their malignancies longer, an Australian review of the literature has concluded. Besides case reports, the reviewers found 77 studies of stroke, TIA or rates of carotid stenosis in patients who had received radiation therapy for primary or secondary cancers of the head or neck region. The 17 epidemiological studies revealed that the procedures appear to “at least double” the relative risk of TIA or stroke, with the exception of adjuvant neck radiotherapy for breast cancer where no association was found. Radiotherapy for breast cancer resulted in only the carotid artery only being minimally exposed to radiation, the authors reported in Stroke. The evidence for radiation vasculopathy (defined as chronic occlusive cerbrovascular disease affecting medium- and large-diameter arteries) was strongest where the exposure occurred in childhood, but the exact magnitude of the increase was unclear due to heterogeneity in the studies. Considering the 17 imaging studies, the reviewers found they repeatedly showed “an increased prevalence of haemodynamically significant carotid stenosis” when there was a history of head and neck radiotherapy. The most significant radiologic evidence implicating radiotherapy in TIA and stroke was the spatial distribution of the vascular disease itself, they said. “It signposts the [radiotherapy] field.” Two theories of the pathogenesis of radiation vasculopathy were presented in the literature, they said. One was that it was an [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T07:21:03-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Uptake and fate of surface modified silica nanoparticles in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Source: 7thspace.com Author: Emina Besic Gyenge et al. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is currently the eighth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The often severe side effects, functional impairments and unfavorable cosmetic outcome of conventional therapies for HNSCC have prompted the quest for novel treatment strategies, including the evaluation of nanotechnology to improve drug delivery and cancer imaging. Although silica nanoparticles hold great promise for biomedical applications, they have not yet been investigated in the context of HNSCC. In the present in-vitro study we thus analyzed the cytotoxicity, uptake and intracellular fate of 200-300 nm core-shell silica nanoparticles encapsulating fluorescent dye tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II) dichloride with hydroxyl-, aminopropyl- or PEGylated surface modifications (Ru@SiO2-OH, Ru@SiO2-NH2, Ru@SiO2-PEG) in the human HNSCC cell line UMB-SCC 745. Results: We found that at concentrations of 0.125 mg/ml, none of the nanoparticles used had a statistically significant effect on proliferation rates of UMB-SCC 745. Confocal and transmission electron microscopy showed an intracellular appearance of Ru@SiO2-OH and Ru@SiO2-NH2 within 30 min. They were internalized both as single nanoparticles (presumably via clathin-coated pits) or in clusters and always localized to cytoplasmic membrane-bounded vesicles. Immunocytochemical co-localization studies indicated that only a fraction of these nanoparticles were transferred to early endosomes, while the majority accumulated in large organelles. Ru@SiO2-OH and Ru@SiO2-NH2 nanoparticles had never been observed to traffic to the lysosomal compartment and were rather propagated at cell division. Intracellular persistence of Ru@SiO2-OH and Ru@SiO2-NH2 was thus traceable over 5 cell passages, but did not result in apparent changes [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T12:56:09-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Cancer Prevention international lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson claims actions expected to cause over 7,300 oral cancers

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: press release A lawsuit filed by Oral Cancer Prevention International (OCPI) against Johnson & Johnson in Federal Court in Trenton New Jersey claims that J&J's actions to protect the reputation of its Listerine mouthwash, which has been linked to oral cancer, can be expected to result in over 7,300 cases of otherwise preventable oral cancer across the US and over 1,120 such cancers in New York State alone. Some of the key markets impacted include: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. "Oral cancer kills as many Americans as melanoma and twice as many as cervical cancer," says Mark Rutenberg, CEO of OCPI. "It is also rising sharply among women, young people and non-smokers. Because there has previously not been an easy way to test routine oral spots for precancerous cells, the disease is generally not detected until it is an already invasive cancer with a high mortality rate that has changed little in the last 50 years." The lawsuit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages, claims that J&J blocked an agreement between OCPI and a then J&J subsidiary to sell its test for oral precancer. The lawsuit claims that J&J was concerned that such sales could draw attention in the $1B US Listerine market to recent studies suggesting that the mouthwash may be linked to oral cancer. J&J was particularly concerned about a 2008 study in the Australian Dental Journal -- which concluded that mouthwashes with high alcohol content could [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T07:08:35-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|