Oral Cancer News – Page 189

Poor oral health can be passed through generations

Source: www.dentistryiq.com Author: staff A new 27-year research project suggests that mothers with poor oral health are likely to have children who also have poor oral health when they reach adulthood. The long-term study of more than a thousand children born in New Zealand in 1972 and 19731 provides strong evidence that the children of mothers with poor oral health are more likely to grow up with above average levels of tooth loss, tooth decay, and fillings. The findings strengthen the notion from previous research that adult oral health is affected by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.2 The research compared the oral health of the children at the age of 5 in 1978, and again at the age of 32. The findings were compared with the mother’s own self-rated oral health measured in 1978. Analysis 27 years later indicated that approaching half of children (45.1%) whose mothers rated their oral health as "very poor" had severe tooth decay. Around four in every 10 children (39.6%) experienced tooth loss in adulthood. The research commented on the influence of environmental risk factors on oral health including socioeconomic status (SES), attitudes, beliefs, and oral health-related knowledge persisting across generations, providing further evidence of how a mother’s view of her own oral health can affect that of her child’s. Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation Dr. Nigel Carter said: "These findings represent important confirmation of a trend that has long been recognised. Work by Per Axelsson in Sweden in the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-11T14:22:45-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Men likely at greater risk for developing HPV-positive cancers

Source: curetoday.com Author: Jon Garinn A new analysis from the National Cancer Institute suggests that the number of HPV-positive oral cancers among men could rise significantly in the next decade, possibly surpassing HPV-positive cervical cancers among women. The genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 20 million Americans are currently infected and about 6 million are infected each year. Using population-based cancer registry data, the researchers found that between 1988 and 2004, oropharyngeal cancers related to HPV increased by 225 percent, with men accounting for the majority of cases. Relying on U.S. Census projections and age-period-cohort models, they projected a 27 percent rise in cases by 2020. More than 40 types of HPV are spread during genital, oral or anal sex with an infected partner—some are low-risk (wart-causing) while others are high-risk (cancer-causing). In most cases, the body’s own immune system gets rid of HPV within about two years of infection. But if the body cannot clear the infection, it can develop into several cancers, including oropharyngeal and cervical, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Gardasil, the only approved vaccine for young men and women, is effective against two types of cancer-causing HPV and two types of wart-causing HPV. Cervarix is an HPV vaccine approved only for women.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-11T22:06:00-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Johnson & Johnson Sued for $70 Million Over Oral Cancer Test Detection

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com July 8, 2011 -- Oral Cancer Prevention International (OCPI), makers of the Oral CDx brush test for oral cancer detection, is suing Johnson & Johnson (J&J) over a terminated distribution contract with OraPharma. OraPharma was previously a subsidiary of J&J until it was acquired last December by Water Street Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago. J&J, which among other things sells Listerine mouthwash, was worried that a 2008 study linking alcohol-containing mouthwashes with oral cancer would negatively affect sales of Listerine and allegedly induced OraPharma to breach the sales agreement, according to OCPI. The lawsuit, filed July 6 in U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, claims that J&J "maliciously and fraudulently" interfered with a contract between OCPI and OraPharma that gave OraPharma exclusive rights to sell the test to U.S. dentists. J&J's interference caused OraPharma "to suppress sales of and withhold from the public a proven lifesaving oral cancer prevention product in order to protect sales of its mouthwash, Listerine, which has been linked to oral cancer," according to the complaint. After OCPI signed the contract in February 2010, J&J did not want to "lend credence to the link between Listerine and oral cancer" by selling both its mouthwash and OralCDx, the complaint states. As of press time, J&J did not return calls for comment by DrBicuspid.com. Sales of Listerine bring in more than $1 billion per year, the suit claims. OralCDx is a "quick, painless, and inexpensive test that can prevent oral cancer by [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-11T10:12:41-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Using a lab-grown trachea, surgeons conduct the world’s first synthetic organ transplant

Source: www.popsci.com Author: Clay Dillow Surgeons working at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden have taken a huge step forward for regenerative medicine by successfully executing the world’s first synthetic organ transplant. The donor-less transplant saved the life of a 36-year-old cancer patient, who is doing well now after having received a new windpipe grown from his own stem cells. This story is about as international as it gets: The Eritrean patient, Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, was pursuing his doctorate in geology in Iceland when his trachea was consumed by an inoperable tumor that grew so bad that it was actually blocking his breathing. So 3-D scans of his windpipe were sent to scientists at University College London, which crafted a glass scaffold that was a perfect match for Beyene’s trachea and two main bronchi. The scaffold was in turn was sent to Sweden, where it was soaked in stem cells from Beyene’s own bone marrow. The stem cells took hold and within just two days had filled the scaffold, creating a new trachea that is, biologically speaking, Beyene’s own tissue. A 12-hour operation by an Italian surgeon specializing in trachea operations removed Beyene’s windpipe and all signs of the cancer and then replaced it with the new, lab-grown organ. That was a month ago. Today, Beyene is recovering well. Because the organ was grown from his own cells, there is no risk of his body rejecting it and no need for the harsh regimen of anti-rejection drugs that usually go hand [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-08T20:34:52-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Artificial nose could hold the key in detecting head and neck cancer

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff An artificial nose could hold the key in detecting head-and-neck (HNC), according to scientists. The results1 have shown the man-made Nanoscale Artificial Nose (NA-NOSE), developed at the Israel Institute of Technology2, can effectively distinguish between head-and-neck cancer patients, lung cancer patients and those free of oral cancer simply by sampling a breath test. Head-and-neck cancer is the eighth most common curable cancer worldwide and is often diagnosed late due to a lack of successful screening methods. Research suggests overall cure is achieved in less than one in two patients, while sufferers often develop a second primary tumour that can affect the entire aero-digestive tract, making lifelong follow-up necessary. As this appears to be the first study of its kind, Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, believes more needs to be done in order to validate this promising breakthrough in the battle against oral cancer. Dr Carter said: "The discovery of an effective screening method for a cancer which kills one person every five hours in the UK using a relatively simple method represents excellent progress. However, the Foundation urges greater investigation into the feasibility of using such a device on a larger scale. "The Foundation runs Mouth Cancer Action throughout November under the tagline ‘If in doubt, get checked out'. The campaign aims to raise awareness of mouth cancer among the public and encourage people to visit their dentist or doctor for regular check-ups. If a breath test could hold the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-03T14:38:43-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Study identifies patients best suited to second round of head-and-neck treatment

Source: http://www.oncologynurseadvisor.com/ Author: Delicia Honen Yard A small group of patients with recurrent or second primary head and neck cancer achieved long-term cure after undergoing concomitant chemotherapy with reirradiation. However, the associated risk of severe toxicity demonstrated that only carefully selected patients should undergo treatment readministration. Joseph Salama, MD, formerly with the University of Chicago (Illinois), and colleagues analyzed data from 166 patients with head and neck cancer who had received a first round of radiation followed by a second round plus chemotherapy because their cancer recurred or because they developed a new tumor. After a median follow-up of 53 months among surviving patients, median overall survival was 10.3 months. The 2-year rates for overall survival, disease-free survival, locoregional control, and freedom from distant metastasis were 24.8%, 19.9%, 50.7%, and 61.4%, respectively. Despite yielding a 2-year cure rate of nearly a quarter of the subjects, the second course of treatment was highly toxic: 33 participants (19.9%) died of treatment-related toxicity, and some lost the ability to speak or swallow. The investigators found that certain patients benefited from the second treatment over others: Those who were cancer-free for a longer period of time, did not have chemotherapy with their first course of radiation, were treated with a higher dose of radiation in their second round, and had surgical resection or debulking prior to the second course of radiation were more likely to be cured at 2 years than those who had none or only some of these features. “This can help doctors determine [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-03T09:12:41-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Palifermin reduces severe mucositis in head and neck cancer

Source: http://www.medscape.com/ Author: Janis C. Kelly Palifermin (Kepivance), which is currently approved for preventing mucositis associated with total-body irradiation and stem-cell transplantation in hematologic malignancies, also prevents oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, according to 2 randomized trials published online June 13 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Michael Henke, MD, who led both studies, told Medscape Medical News that "this shows for the first time that radiation-induced mucositis can be ameliorated — and this in a phase 2/3 design!" Dr. Henke is from the Department of Radiation Oncology at University Clinic in Freiburg, Germany. The multicenter studies included researchers from Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The first study was a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial of 186 patients with stage II to IVB carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, or larynx. Treatment included radiation, 60 or 66 Gy, after complete or incomplete resection, delivered at 2 Gy per fraction and 5 fractions per week. Treatment also included cisplatin 100 mg/m2 on days 1 and 22 (and on day 43 with incomplete resection). Patients were randomized to weekly palifermin 120 μg/kg or placebo from 3 days before and throughout radiochemotherapy. The primary end point was the incidence of severe oral mucositis (World Health Organization [WHO] grades 3 to 4). Palifermin reduced oral mucositis incidence to 51% (41 of 92), compared with 67% (63 of 94) with placebo (P = .027), shortened median mucositis from [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-03T09:08:28-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New labels may not go far enough

Source: www.denverpost.com Author: Rhonda Hackett How far would you go to stop a killer? Smoking continues to kill more Americans every year than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death and the single greatest driver of health-care costs in Colorado. Despite concerted efforts over recent years to educate people about the dangers of tobacco use, 46.6 million American adults smoke, while kids alone are responsible for roughly $2 billion in annual cigarette sales revenues. More than 400,000 people die every year from tobacco use (4,300 in Colorado), while an additional 50,000 adults die as a result of second-hand smoke exposure. More than 8 million Americans currently suffer from tobacco- caused illnesses, resulting in an estimated $96 billion in public and private health care expenditures each year. In Colorado, the tab is about $1.3 billion per year. Simply put, tobacco is the single most lethal and costly legal commodity available in America today. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now followed the lead of other developed nations by requiring cigarette packages carry graphic warning labels. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said at a White House briefing, "We want kids to understand smoking is gross - not cool - and there's really nothing pretty about having mouth cancer." Critics of the warning labels cite the fact that smoking is a legal activity and as such products associated with it should not be subject to government mandate discouraging use. The Institute [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-03T09:03:04-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Late diagnoses may have caused U.K. oral cancer deaths

Source: http://www.drbicuspid.com/ Author: DrBicuspid Staff Late diagnoses and referrals could have resulted in the deaths of several oral cancer patients at a dental hospital in Belfast, U.K., according to a story in the Belfast Telegraph. A report found the Belfast Health Trust guilty of "serious deficiencies" after 15 oral cancer patients at the Royal Dental Hospital received late diagnoses and referrals. Health Minister Edwin Poots said that four of the 15 could have died as a consequence. Poots also disclosed that five senior directors of the trust received pay increases of between 5% and 10%, which cannot now be legally retrieved, involving a total of 26,000 pounds ($41,793 U.S). Also, government officials were told there may be "potentially material shortcomings" over the procurement of a security services contract at the Belvoir Park Hospital site in south Belfast. The problems were attributed to excessive workloads, exacerbated by the lack of an adequate secretarial and administrative support system. In February, it was revealed that two years ago the trust launched a major review of 3,000 clinical records belonging to dentistry patients in Northern Ireland.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-03T08:56:36-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Hypersensitivity Reactions to Erbitux Caused by Tick Bites.

Source: Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News Hypersensitivity reactions to cetuximab (Erbitux, ImClone Systems/Bristol-Myers Squibb), a monoclonal antibody approved for use in colorectal cancer, are not caused by the drug itself but by preexisting immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies that may result from tick bites, researchers have found. Cetuximab, like other monoclonal antibodies, is generally associated with a low rate of severe anaphylactic reactions (3%), but reports of such reactions to cetuximab have recently increased in southeastern states, including Tennessee and North Carolina. Researchers found IgE antibodies in pretreatment samples of 68% of patients allergic to cetuximab that were specific for galactose-α-1,3-galactose, an oligosaccharide present on the Fab portion of the cetuximab heavy chain. The authors noted that rates of anaphylactic reaction may be lower with other monoclonal antibodies because cetuximab is produced in the mouse cell line SP2/0, which expresses this oligosaccharide, whereas most other monoclonal antibodies are produced in a Chinese hamster ovary cell line that does not express this molecule. Theories to explain the increased hypersensitivity of patients in the Southeast initially centered on exposure to worms, such as roundworms or tapeworms. However, researchers now believe the true culprit may be ticks, whose bites have resulted in the development of this type of IgE antibody. Pretreatment samples were obtained from 76 people treated with cetuximab at centers mainly in Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina; the control group included 72 people in Tennessee, 49 patients with cancer in northern California and 341 women in Boston. Of the patients on cetuximab, 25 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-01T12:42:28-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|