Oral Cancer News

Probe into ‘late cancer diagnoses’

Source: Google News An urgent independent inquiry is to investigate how 15 cancer patients examined at Belfast's Royal School of Dentistry may have received late diagnoses. Health Minister Michael McGimpsey apologised for the failings which emerged after the review of a consultant's work. Professor Philip Lamey has now been removed from his post and is due to face a hearing at the General Dental Council later this year. The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has already identified concerns over 22 patients, 15 of whom had cancer, and last week recalled an additional 117 people to have their cases reviewed as a precautionary measure. "I want to take this opportunity to apologise to all patients who may have had delays in their diagnosis," the minister told the Assembly. "The public must have confidence that their treatment will be responsive, rapid and of the highest quality." "For the vast majority of people their experiences will reflect high quality care. However, when this care falls short, every possible step must be taken to ensure that patients are informed and any failings are addressed quickly to avoid any unnecessary pain and distress." He added: "I have to say that I share the shock and concern that the public will rightly feel about this matter. I am very unhappy about the distress caused to patients and the handling of this matter." Concerns were first raised about the consultant's work in late 2009 when it emerged that six patients with oral cancer had potentially received [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-11T09:52:48-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer vaccinations for boys by 2012?

Source: Star Observer The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) will determine if the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil, should be included in the National Immunisation Program for boys. Gardasil is currently administered to girls when they begin high school to prevent cervical cancer. HPV, however, also causes throat cancer, genital and anal warts, and cancer of the penis. Gardasil is approved in Australia for use in boys and men aged nine to 26. Without subsidy, it costs $450 a treatment, and most parents are unaware of the protection it offers boys. Professor Andrew Grulich, of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, told the Star Observer that few boys outside those from medical families were being immunised. “The boys who are getting it more than any others are the sons of doctors because doctors are aware of the enormous benefits of this vaccine for boys,” Grulich said. “There is absolutely no doubt it will prevent most anal cancer, that it will prevent quite a bit of penile cancer, and that it will prevent almost all anal and genital warts.” Grulich said HPV was now responsible for the lion’s share of cancers in the back of the throat in Australia due to lower rates of smoking, and oral sex growing in acceptability. “Those cancers have been increasing over the last 20 or 30 years. Previously we thought perhaps 20 or 30 percent of those cancers were caused by HPV and now it’s more like 70 percent. “It’s really important [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-10T11:06:22-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Reirradiation with intensity-modulated radiotherapy in recurrent head and neck cancer.

Source: HighWire- Stanford University In this retrospective investigation we analyzed outcome and toxicity after intensity-modulated reirradiation of recurrent head and neck cancer. METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with local recurrent head and neck cancer were evaluated. The median dose of initial radiotherapy was 61 Gy. Reirradiation was carried out with step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiotherapy (median dose: 49 Gy). RESULTS: Median overall survival was 17 months, and the 1- and 2-year overall survival rates were 63% and 34%. The 1- and 2-year local control rates were 57% and 53%. Distant spread occurred in 34%, and reirradiation induced considerable late toxicity in 21% of the patients. Thirty-two percent showed increased xerostomia after reirradiation. The risk for xerostomia was significantly higher for cumulative mean doses of ?45 Gy to parotid glands. Considering median cumulative maximum doses of 53 Gy to the spinal cord and 63 Gy to the brainstem, no late toxicities were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Reirradiation with intensity-modulated radiotherapy in recurrent head and neck cancer is feasible with acceptable toxicity and yields encouraging rates of local control and overall survival. � 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2011.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-09T11:45:36-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer incidence, deaths expected to double by 2030 without preventive measures

Source: HemOnc Today In a report released for World Cancer Day, the American Cancer Society said worldwide cancer incidence will increase to 21.4 million diagnoses per year, with 13.2 million cancer deaths, by 2030 unless preventive measures are adopted worldwide. ACS attributes the predicted increase in diagnoses and death to an aging world population and a rise in lifestyle- and behavior-related cancers such as lung, breast and colorectal disease caused by improved economic development. The findings come from the second edition of “Global Cancer Facts & Figures” and its academic publication, “Global Cancer Statistics,” published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Both publications were released Feb. 4, World Cancer Day. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that there were approximately 12.7 million new cancer diagnoses and 7.6 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2008. OCF More than half of those diagnoses, 7.1 million, occurred in developing countries, and those countries accounted for 4.8 million cancer deaths. The agency took a specific look at cancer in Africa. The continent accounted for approximately 681,000 new cancers and 512,400 deaths in 2008. In keeping with worldwide trends, those numbers are projected to double by 2030 because of population growth and the aging of the population. Writing in an accompanying editorial, Otis W. Brawley, MD, ACS chief medical officer, said roughly one-third of cancer deaths in 2008 could be attributed to known risk factors, including tobacco use, physical inactivity, diet, infection and alcohol use. “The worldwide application of existing cancer control knowledge [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-09T11:41:43-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Physicians Say Good Riddance to ‘Worst Drug in History’

Source: Medscape Today By: Allison Gandey An estimated 10 million patients have used the pain reliever propoxyphene and were sent scrambling to doctors' offices when it was recently pulled from the market. Many physicians are still dealing with the aftermath of the product, first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1957. "Propoxyphene is the worst drug in history," Ulf Jonasson, doctor of public health, from the Nordic School in Gothenburg, Sweden, told Medscape Medical News. The researcher played a role in the decision to stop the pain reliever in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and later in the entire European Union. "No single drug has ever caused so many deaths," Dr. Jonasson said. Clinicians are now prescribing analgesic alternatives to propoxyphene. Propoxyphene was banned in the United Kingdom 5 years ago because of its risk for suicide. It was taken off the market in Europe in 2009 over concerns about fatal overdoses and now in the United States for arrhythmias. "I agree that propoxyphene is among the worst drugs in history," Eduardo Fraifeld, MD, president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said in an interview. "I'm surprised it stayed on the market so long. It's addictive, in my experience not very effective, and toxic." "I'd probably add Demerol to the list too," Dr. Fraifeld said. "It's toxic and sedating, and my personal opinion is it should not be used at all." Also known as pethidine, Demerol was the first synthetic opioid synthesized in 1932 as a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-07T12:51:33-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Dog Sniffing Out Cancer May Lead to Early Detection Test

Source: Medscape Today By: Zosia Chustecka The latest study demonstrating that dogs can sniff out cancer has confirmed the notion that a specific cancer smell does exist, and has added fuel to the idea of developing a test based on odor. Previous studies have reported on dogs that can detect lung and breast cancer from breath samples, and there has been anecdotal evidence suggesting that dogs can detect melanoma, bladder, and ovarian cancers. In this latest study, published online January 31 in Gut, a Labrador retriever was trained over several months to sniff out colorectal cancer in breath and watery stool samples. Hideto Sonoda, MD, and colleagues from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, report that this dog was then tested with samples obtained from colorectal cancer patients and from volunteers, some of whom had gastrointestinal problems such as ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease. The dog correctly identified cancer in 33 of 36 breath tests and in 37 of 38 stool tests. This equates to 95% accuracy overall for the breath test and 98% accuracy overall for the stool test, the researchers report. The highest detection rates were among samples taken from patients with early-stage cancer, they add. Samples taken from smokers and from people with other gastrointestinal diseases, which might be expected to mask or interfere with cancer odors, did not appear to confuse the dog. "This study shows that a specific cancer scent does indeed exist," the researchers conclude. They are not suggesting using dogs in clinical practice, however. They [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-07T12:28:00-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Quadrivalent HPV Vaccine May Be Effective in Young Men

Source: Medscape Today By: Laurie Barclay, MD February 2, 2011 — Quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may prevent infection with HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 and the development of related external genital lesions in young men 16 to 26 years old, according to the results of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial reported in the February 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Infection with ...HPV and diseases caused by HPV are common in boys and men," write Anna R. Giuliano, PhD, from the Risk Assessment, Detection, and Intervention Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, and colleagues. "We report on the safety of a quadrivalent vaccine (active against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18) and on its efficacy in preventing the development of external genital lesions and anogenital HPV infection in boys and men." The study sample consisted of 4065 healthy boys and men, aged 16 to 26 years, enrolled from 18 countries. The primary efficacy goal was to demonstrate that use of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine was associated with a lower incidence of external genital lesions related to HPV-6, 11, 16, or 18. The investigators used a per-protocol population, in which participants received all 3 vaccinations and had tested negative for relevant HPV types at enrollment, and an intent-to-treat population, in which participants received vaccine or placebo, regardless of baseline HPV status. In the intent-to-treat population, there were 36 external genital lesions in the vaccine group and 89 in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-07T12:19:31-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

In cancer survival, ‘mind matters,’ says expert

Source: www.medscape.com Author: staff Social support and psychologic/psychiatric interventions can improve survival in cancer but are "overlooked" in the treatment of the disease, argues a psychiatrist in an essay published in the February 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "A patient's personal mental management of the stresses associated with cancer" is a "natural ally" in the battle with this disease, writes David Spiegel, MD, from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California. "It is plausible that interventions providing emotional and social support at the end of life have a positive influence on physiological stress-response systems that affect survival," he writes, suggesting a mechanism of action. But another expert in the field of behavioral medicine noted that there is very little evidence of such survival benefit. "Social support almost certainly makes people feel better, which is hugely important, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did improve survival," said Richard Sloan, PhD, from the Division of Behavioral Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. But, he added, there is no strong body of evidence that treatments and services addressing social or emotional issues improve survival in the field of cancer. For instance, "I know of no study in cancer patients that shows that reducing depression improves survival," he said. "We should treat depression because it makes patients miserable, not because we think it may improve survival," he added. Dr. Sloan's great concern about [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-06T09:15:28-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Star Scientific – filed application with U.S. FDA for approval to market a moist-snuff product

Source: snus-news.blogspot.com Author: staff Star Scientific, Inc. filed an application yesterday, February 2nd with the U.S. Food & Administration (FDA) for approval to market a moist-snuff product, Stonewall Moist-BDL™, as a modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP). The company believes that this is the first application filed with the FDA for approval of a tobacco product in a longstanding market segment. The data submitted in the application to the Center for Tobacco Products at FDA document TSNA levels in Stonewall Moist-BDL™ that are below limits of detection, or "BDL", by current standards of measure. Recent findings in the form of test results from an independent international laboratory validate the extraordinarily low levels in recently submitted samples of Stonewall Moist-BDL™, which the company believes are the lowest found anywhere in the world. The company pointed out that this application is particularly significant in two ways. First, moist snuff product sales accounted for roughly 75% of the total smokeless tobacco market in 2009. Moist snuff sales increased from 31,500 metric tons and $3.3 billion in 2004 to 37,990 metric tons and $4.64 billion in 2009 – an average annual growth rate of roughly 4%, and a 41% overall increase in sales over the six-year period. The moist snuff market segment has been well established for many decades, and is one of the oldest tobacco product categories in the United States. Second, tobacco-specific nitrosamine (TSNA) levels among the moist snuff products with the largest sales volume in 2009 averaged over 10,000 parts per billion in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-06T08:36:25-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Global cancer statistics

Source: caonline.amcancersoc.org Authors: Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD et al. The global burden of cancer continues to increase largely because of the aging and growth of the world population alongside an increasing adoption of cancer-causing behaviors, particularly smoking, in economically developing countries. Based on the GLOBOCAN 2008 estimates, about 12.7 million cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths are estimated to have occurred in 2008; of these, 56% of the cases and 64% of the deaths occurred in the economically developing world. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among females, accounting for 23% of the total cancer cases and 14% of the cancer deaths. Lung cancer is the leading cancer site in males, comprising 17% of the total new cancer cases and 23% of the total cancer deaths. Breast cancer is now also the leading cause of cancer death among females in economically developing countries, a shift from the previous decade during which the most common cause of cancer death was cervical cancer. Further, the mortality burden for lung cancer among females in developing countries is as high as the burden for cervical cancer, with each accounting for 11% of the total female cancer deaths. Although overall cancer incidence rates in the developing world are half those seen in the developed world in both sexes, the overall cancer mortality rates are generally similar. Cancer survival tends to be poorer in developing countries, most likely because of a combination of a late stage [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-06T08:31:35-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|