Oral Cancer News – Page 210

Depression not an “invariable complication” of cancer

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Nick Mulcahy Depression — the most extensively studied mood complication associated with cancer — is "less common in patients with cancer than previously thought," according to the authors of a new meta-analysis. "Substantial uncertainty exists about prevalence of mood disorders in patients with cancer, including those in oncological, hematological, and palliative-care settings," write the authors, led by Alex Mitchell, MRCPsych, from the Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and Leicestershire Partnership Trust, in the United Kingdom. For instance, reviews of depression in palliative-care cancer settings have shown prevalences between 1% and 69%, say the authors. However, the meta-analysis found that depression affects only about 16% of patients in oncological, hematological, and palliative-care settings. This rate is "modest," and suggests that "depression is not an invariable complication of cancer," write the authors. The analysis was published online January 19 in the Lancet Oncology. But depression is only one problem. "Some combination of mood disorders" occurs in 30% to 40% of cancer patients in these 3 hospital settings, the authors report. The study's take-away message is that clinicians should remain "vigilant for mood complications, not just depression," suggest Dr. Mitchell and colleagues. They also recommend that clinicians use simplified screening tools to look out for "distress, activities of daily living, quality of life, unmet needs, and desire for help." Herein lies the great challenge, suggested an expert not involved with the meta-analysis — namely, how to proceed in the cancer clinic with patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-22T19:02:48-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV infection may be linked to poor head and neck cancer survival rates in African Americans

Source: www.aacr.org Author: staff American Association for Cancer Research Hosts Press Conference on New Study A groundbreaking study in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggests that having the human papillomavirus (HPV) improves survival in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Furthermore, African Americans had far less HPV infection than whites, which led to worse survival. "There is currently no consensus on why blacks fare worse with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck than whites, but this is the first clue that it may be biologic rather than related to issues of access, insurance or provider attitudes," said senior author Kevin Cullen, M.D., director of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center and professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Cullen's research showed that median overall survival was more than threefold higher for whites (70.6 months) than for African Americans (20.9 months) who were treated with chemotherapy and radiation. When the researchers examined patients by HPV status, they found that HPV-negative patients had a median survival of 26.6 months, while the survival rate for HPV-positive patients could not be calculated because most were still alive. Overall, 4 percent of African American patients and 34 percent of white patients were HPV positive. Cullen said the survival difference was entirely due to HPV status, as survival rates were similar among HPV-negative patients. Scott Lippman, M.D., chair of the Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention at the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-21T06:28:27-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Menthol

Source: snus-news.blogspot.com Author: Sarah O'Connor There is a strong preference for menthol products in a number of Asian markets such as Japan and it is also growing in some Central European and Latin American markets. (Marlboro menthol cigarettes: strong preference in Asia by O'Connor Sarah, cheapweb.info, 6/24/2009) Study Abstract: Japan presents an excellent case-study of a nation with low female smoking rates and a negligible menthol market which changed after the cigarette market was opened to foreign competition. Internal tobacco industry documents demonstrate the intent of tobacco manufacturers to increase initiation among young females through development and marketing of menthol brands. Japanese menthol market share rose rapidly from less than 1% in 1980 to 20% in 2008. Menthol brand use was dominated by younger and female smokers, in contrast with non-menthol brands which were used primarily by male smokers. Nationally representative surveys confirm industry surveys of brand use and provide further evidence of the end results of the tobacco industry‘s actions—increased female smoking in Japan. These findings suggest that female populations may be encouraged to initiate into smoking, particularly in developing nations or where female smoking rates remain low, if the tobacco industry can successfully tailor brands to them. The Japanese experience provides a warning to public health officials who wish to prevent smoking initiation among young females. Surveys identified menthol as a major reason for female experimentation and use. Menthol cigarettes tended to be viewed as "a special type" of "light" cigarette and were widely considered to be an [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-19T13:38:06-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

How protein made by HPV thwarts protective human protein, causing malignancy

Source: American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology BETHESDA, MD., Jan. 11, 2011 – An international team of researchers is reporting that it has uncovered new information about human papilloma virus that one day may aid in the development of drugs to eliminate the cervical-cancer-causing infection. Led by researcher Per Jemth of Uppsala University in Sweden, the collaborators from four institutions detail in the Journal of Biological Chemistry how an offensive protein generated by the sexually transmitted virus handicaps a defensive protein made by the human body. Co-author Neil Ferguson, a biophysicist at University College Dublin, says: "It has proved difficult to stem the proliferation of many viruses using conventional drug discovery. Inhibitors of protein-protein interactions, as in HPV's case, are potentially potent ways to perturb viral infections." There are almost 200 strains of HPV, dozens of which are transmitted through genital contact, and about half of sexually active people have had one or more infections. The immune system eliminates the virus within two years in about 90 percent of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, but it lingers for many years in a minority of cases. Some strains result in no visible symptoms, others cause genital warts and still others cause cancer. "Infection by high-risk human papilloma viruses is causing as many as half a million cases of cervical cancer and more than 200,000 deaths among women per year, making it one of the most common forms of cancer," Jemth emphasized. For the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-17T21:36:34-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Parotid-sparing intensity modulated versus conventional radiotherapy in head and neck cancer (PARSPORT): a phase 3 multicentre randomised controlled trial

The Lancet Oncology, Early Online Publication, 13 January 2011 Dr Christopher M Nutting FRCR a b , James P Morden MSc b, Kevin J Harrington FRCR a b, Teresa Guerrero Urbano PhD c, Shreerang A Bhide FRCR a, Catharine Clark PhD d, Elizabeth A Miles MPhil e, Aisha B Miah FRCR a, Kate Newbold FRCR a, MaryAnne Tanay MSc a, Fawzi Adab FRCR f, Sarah J Jefferies FRCR g, Christopher Scrase FRCR h, Beng K Yap FRCR i, Roger P A'Hern MSc b, Mark A Sydenham BSc b, Marie Emson BSc b, Emma Hall PhD b, on behalf of the PARSPORT trial management group† Summary Background Xerostomia is the most common late side-effect of radiotherapy to the head and neck. Compared with conventional radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) can reduce irradiation of the parotid glands. We assessed the hypothesis that parotid-sparing IMRT reduces the incidence of severe xerostomia. Methods We undertook a randomised controlled trial between Jan 21, 2003, and Dec 7, 2007, that compared conventional radiotherapy (control) with parotid-sparing IMRT. We randomly assigned patients with histologically confirmed pharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma (T1—4, N0—3, M0) at six UK radiotherapy centres between the two radiotherapy techniques (1:1 ratio). A dose of 60 or 65 Gy was prescribed in 30 daily fractions given Monday to Friday. Treatment was not masked. Randomization was by computer-generated permuted blocks and was stratified by centre and tumor site. Our primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with grade 2 or worse xerostomia at 12 months, as assessed by [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-17T11:52:14-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Cost of cancer in the United States to go up, up, up

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Nick Mulcahy Because of the growth in the number of older Americans, there will be 18.1 million cancer survivors by 2020 in the United States — 4.3 million more than in 2010. And the associated costs of cancer care will be $157.77 billion — $33.20 billion more than in 2010, according to a new study published online January 12 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. However, these long-term cost projections assume that the incidence, survival, and annual costs remain the same, note the study authors, led by Angela Mariotto, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Mariotto and her colleagues also crunched the numbers in the event of an annual increase in costs. They estimate that the cost of care might increase annually by 2% in the initial and last-year-of-life phases of care. If such increases happen, then the total cost in 2020 is projected to be $173 billion, a 39% increase from 2010. These are conservative numbers, even with the 2% increase in annual costs, said a healthcare policy expert not involved in the study. The projected 2% annual cost increase should be considered a "lower bound or minimum estimate," Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, told Medscape Medical News. He is a senior fellow at the Duke Center for Clinical Health Policy Research in Durham, North Carolina. "The true increase in the cost of cancer to patients, families, and society is likely to be considerably greater over this period." The study's scenarios seem unlikely because [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-14T14:46:23-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc enrols first patient in Phase 2b trial of SCV-O7 for oral mucositis

Source: www.therapeuticsdaily.com Author: staff Specialist pharmaceutical company SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SCLN) revealed on Tuesday that the company has enrolled the first patient in its phase 2b clinical trial of SCV-07 for the prevention of oral mucositis (OM), a painful, debilitating and costly toxicity caused by chemoradiotherapy regimens used to treat head and neck cancer. The company said that the study will examine three doses of SCV-07, including two higher doses than those used in the recent phase 2a study, to assess the drug's impact on modifying the course of OM in patients with head and neck cancer. This multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study will enroll approximately 160 subjects who are receiving standard chemoradiation therapy for treatment of cancers of the head and neck. Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of the trial's four treatment arms: placebo and SCV-07 at doses of 0.1 mg/kg, 0.3 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg. According to the company, SCV-07 (gamma-D-glutamyl-L-tryptophan) is a small molecule which appears to stimulate the immune system through inhibition of STAT3 signaling and the resulting effects on T-helper 1 cells.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-14T09:11:19-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Longitudinal changes over 2 years in parotid glands of patients treated with preoperative 30-Gy irradiation for oral cancer

Source: jjco.oxfordjournals.org Authors: Etsushi Tomitaka et al. Objective: To evaluate longitudinal changes in parotid volumes and saliva production over 2 years after 30 Gy irradiation. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 15 assessable patients treated for advanced oral cancer. Eligibility criteria were a pathologic diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, preoperative radiation therapy with a total dose of 30 Gy delivered in 15 fractions, and the availability of longitudinal data of morphological assessments by computed tomography and functional assessments with the Saxon test spanning 2 years after radiation therapy. In the Saxon test, saliva production was measured by weighing a folded sterile gauze pad before and after chewing; the low-normal value is 2 g/2 min. Repeated-measures analysis of variance with Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons was used to determine the longitudinal changes. Results: The normalized ipsilateral parotid volumes 2 weeks and 6-, 12- and 24 months after radiation therapy were found to be 72.5, 63.7, 66.9 and 78.1%, respectively; the normalized contralateral volumes were 69.8, 64.6, 72.2 and 82.0%, respectively. The bilateral parotid volumes were significantly decreased after radiation therapy (P

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-13T17:13:52-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Three-drug combination shows long-lasting survival benefit in head and neck cancer patients

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: staff Adding a third drug (docetaxel) to a standard two-drug initial chemotherapy regimen significantly improves the long-term survival of patients with head and neck cancer, reducing the likelihood of dying by 26% over 6 years. The long-term results of the TAX 324 trial published Online First in The Lancet Oncology, confirm that this three-drug regimen should become the standard of care for patients who are suitable for induction therapy. Every year, cancers of the head and neck are diagnosed in more than 40 000 people in the USA. Standard treatment for these patients involves combining radiotherapy and chemotherapy with or without surgery, and the addition of induction chemotherapy has been shown to prolong survival. However, the best ways of combining these treatments remains unclear. In recent years, cisplatin plus fluorouracil (PF) has become a standard induction chemotherapy combination and has been shown to significantly prolong survival. The TAX 324 trial was designed to establish whether the addition of docetaxel to initial chemotherapy with cisplatin and fluorouracil (PF) might help patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer live longer. Between May 1999 and December 2003, 501 patients were recruited from 55 centres across the USA, Canada, Argentina, and Europe. In 2007, initial results (minimum follow-up 2 years) showed that induction chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, and fluorouracil (TPF) significantly improved survival compared with PF. To establish the durability of this survival benefit, Jochen Lorch from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA and colleagues evaluated the long-term follow-up of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-13T17:08:13-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Victorian novel– Actress Colleen Zenk moves on & moves in

Source: NY Post By: Micki Siegel Right now, I’m starting everything over,” says actress Colleen Zenk. Zenk endured a series of terrible losses over the past year. In August, her 23-year marriage ended in divorce. A month later, “As the World Turns,” the CBS soap opera she’d worked on for 32 years (in the role of Barbara Ryan), went off the air. “I needed to start a new life with my kids,” Zenk, 57, says. So, she gathered up her 20-year-old-son, Morgan, and her 17-year-old daughter, Georgia (the last of her three children and three stepchildren who still live with her), four birds and two dogs and made a giant leap. They left behind the Redding, Conn., home Zenk had lived in throughout her marriage and moved about 20 minutes away, to Easton. And they did it fast; she barely gave herself time to think twice. “I saw this beautiful house and grabbed it quickly,” she says of the home she spotted last autumn. The 22-year-old reproduction of a Victorian house, which she rents, sits on 3 acres and measures about 4,000 square feet, and there’s an additional 1,000-square-foot suite over the garage. The house has a parlor, a family room, a dining room, a breakfast nook, four bedrooms, 4½ bathrooms and a home office. The over-the-garage suite boasts a bedroom, a dining area, an enormous bathroom and a walk-in closet bigger than the house’s living room. And though the house is relatively new, it’s full of classic details like [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-13T12:01:36-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|