Oral Cancer News – Page 278

Some question benefit of costly treatments

Source: Indystar.com Author: John Russell Cancer doctors say thousands of dollars may buy little time When a cancer patient is facing a steep, painful decline, the high cost of drugs may seem worth every penny. But some cancer specialists are starting to wonder about the cost-effectiveness of some treatments and are raising pointed questions about Eli Lilly and Co.'s newest cancer drug, Erbitux. Treating a lung-cancer patient with Erbitux costs $80,000 for an 11-week regimen, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Yet such treatment prolongs survival by 1.2 months, the study found. "Many Americans would not regard a 1.2-month survival advantage as significant progress," wrote the authors, Tito Fojo, an oncologist with the National Cancer Institute, and Christine Grady, a bioethicist at theNational Institutes of Health. The study's findings raise the question: How can the U.S. control ever-growing health costs, particularly at the end of life? When Lilly announced its acquisition of Erbitux last year, the drug maker said it planned to become "an oncology powerhouse." The Indianapolis-based company has two other cancer drugs, Gemzar and Alimta, each with sales of more than $1 billion last year. Some cancer specialists say the widespread use of expensive treatments is questionable. "Erbitux, which costs $10,000 a month for treatment, can lead to what might be described as a marginal benefit," said Dr. Paul Helft, an oncologist at theIndiana University Simon Cancer Center. Some oncologists use various lengths of treatment depending on the [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-09-14T09:56:42-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Hills attorney boasts ‘largest jury verdict’

Source: www.hometownlife.com Author: Stacy Jenkins It may be the largest jury verdict award for a dental malpractice lawsuit, but Michigan's tort laws prevent the $15 million award from becoming a reality. Farmington Hills attorney Robert Gittleman said he is “thrilled” by the $15 million verdict reached Aug. 27 by an Oakland County Circuit Court jury because “it sends a strong message.” But the tort laws, he says, are “ludicrous and unfair.” Under Michigan's tort laws, his client will receive $500,000 instead of the $15 million the jury thought she deserves. “It's not tort reform, it's tort deform,” he said. “It's an oppressive law that messes up the jury (process) because the jury speaks, then the judge has to (rule) something else.” Gittleman represented Herta Hopton, 61, of Novi, in the jury trial in Circuit Court Judge Steven Andrews' courtroom in August. Hopton, who was referred to board-certified oral surgeon Warren Vallerand, in Novi, had pain in her lower right jaw in 2005. She visited her general dentist at that time, and again in February 2006 when three lower teeth became loose in the area of the jaw pain. She was referred to a periodontist, who recommended the teeth be pulled and a bridge be inserted. A white lesion in her mouth at that time was considered to be “aspirin burn,” according to court documents. The lesion cleared up, but another surfaced in May 2006. Hopton was then referred to oral surgeon Vallerand for lesion evaluation and a possible biopsy. “His [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-14T06:58:22-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Hookah hang-ups: smoking shisha may not be has harmless as perceived

Source: Author: Angel Allen It’s a beautiful evening and you’re puffing smoke rings with your friends, but while the fruit punch taste you inhale may be sweet and relaxing, officials say it comes with the cloudy possibility of future illness. Hookahs are single or multiple stemmed water pipes used to smoke tobacco. They continue to be a popular fixture around the UA campus. But health officials say many students remain ignorant of the ill health effects of shisha, the flavored tobacco smoked in hookahs. A May report issued by the Journal of Adolescent Health said hookah use is growing among college students, despite growing consensus that it may be as dangerous as cigarettes. Hirbod Jalili, a Pima Community College computer sciences student from Iran, said he grew up smoking hookah, starting at age 14. In Iran, “there’s no age for it, anyone can do it. It’s a tradition,” he said. Usually families and friends smoke together as a relaxing hobby, Jalili said. Tea and dates are often served along with the hookah as complementary items. Hacène Chaouch, an optical engineering graduate student from Algeria, said, “We know it’s harmful and it’s not the reason we get together, but it’s something to do when we are together. It’s social.” Local café Espresso Art, 944 E. University Blvd., offers hookah smoking starting from noon outside and 6 p.m. inside until closing at midnight each evening. Owner Danny Mannheim said he enjoys offering an international feel to his café. Mannheim said his café [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-13T05:06:29-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Early postoperative Taxol® may improve outcomes in high-risk head and neck cancer

Source: professional.cancerconsultants.com Author: staff Researchers involved in the RTOG 0024 study have reported that the administration of early adjuvant Taxol® (paclitaxel) followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy may improve local control and improve disease-free survival in patients with high-risk head and neck carcinoma. The details of this study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology early online on August 31, 2009.[1] There have been several randomized and non-randomized clinical trials that suggest that the concomitant administration of platinum-based chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) is superior to RT alone for the treatment of patients with advanced head and neck cancer for local and regional control. Most, but not all, have also shown a survival advantage for combined treatment. An intergroup trial with participation of RTOG, ECOG, and SWOG compared post-operative radiotherapy alone or with concurrent Platinol® (cisplatin) for patients with high-risk head and neck cancer. This study showed that the addition of adjuvant Platinol decreased local recurrences but had no significant impact on metastatic disease or overall survival. An EORTC trial showed that the addition of Platinol to RT improved progression-free and overall survival by 10% and improved overall survival by the same degree. The current study (RTOG 0024) sought to improve the results of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in high-risk head and neck cancer patients by administering Taxol postoperatively on weeks 2, 3, and 4 prior to RT. Taxol and Platinol were administered concomitantly with RT after week 4. This study was compared to the previous RTOG trial 9501, which administered Platinol alone with RT. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-13T04:51:10-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

FDA Panel OKs HPV Vaccine Gardasil for Boys

Source: WebMD Author: Miranda Hitti Sept. 9, 2009 -- An FDA advisory committee voted to recommend approval of the vaccine Gardasil for males ages 9 to 26 to prevent genital warts. Gardasil targets four strains of human papillomavirus, commonly called HPV. Males can carry HPV and transmit it sexually to their partners. HPV can cause genital warts and penile and anal cancer in men. Each year, about 200 out of 100,000 males are newly diagnosed with genital warts, according to background information cited by the FDA. Penile cancer and anal cancer are much rarer. Gardasil already has FDA approval for use in females ages 9 to 26. In females, HPV can cause cervical cancer. The FDA advisory committee ruled 7 to 0, with one abstaining vote, that Gardasil's clinical trial data support the vaccine's effectiveness at preventing genital warts in males ages 9 to 26. And in a 7 to 1 vote, the advisory committee ruled that the data show Gardasil to be safe for males in that age range. The FDA advisory committeereviewed three studies of Gardasil that together included more than 5,000 males ages 9 to 26 in various countries including the U.S. Participants got a total of three shots of Gardasil or a placebo spread over six months. They also got checkups and tests to check for HPV infection. Gardasil was 89% effective in preventing genital warts. The vaccine was less effective in participants who had already been exposed to HPV. No serious side effects were seen, [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-09-11T10:42:14-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Vitamin D for cancer prevention: global perspective

Source: Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Jul 1;19(7):468-483, Authors: CF Garland, ED Gorham, AR Mohr, FC Garland Abstract: Purpose: Higher serum levels of the main circulating form of vitamin D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), are associated with substantially lower incidence rates of colon, breast, ovarian, renal, pancreatic, aggressive prostate and other cancers. Methods: Epidemiological findings combined with newly discovered mechanisms suggest a new model of cancer etiology that accounts for these actions of 25(OH)D and calcium. Its seven phases are disjunction, initiation, natural selection, overgrowth, metastasis, involution, and transition (abbreviated DINOMIT). Vitamin D metabolites prevent disjunction of cells and are beneficial in other phases. Results/Conclusions: It is projected that raising the minimum year- round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL (100150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada, based on observational studies combined with a randomized trial. Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half. There are no unreasonable risks from intake of 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3, or from a population serum 25(OH)D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL. The time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase intake of vitamin D and calcium.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-10T19:09:15-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Particle beam radiation therapy promising but unproven for treating cancer

Source: www.reuters.com Author: Particle beam radiation therapy, a technology used to treat several types of cancer, is considered by some clinicians to be better than traditional radiation, but there is limited evidence about its safety compared with other types of radiation therapy, according to a new comparative effectiveness report funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. "As technologies develop and new clinical interventions arise, it is important to balance access to potentially beneficial new technologies with ongoing research and evaluation to determine whether the technologies deliver what they promise," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "Increased funding for comparative effectiveness research is an exciting opportunity to continue important research on medical therapies and interventions." Particle beam radiation therapy -- also known as charged particle radiation therapy or proton beam radiation therapy -- uses beams of protons or other charged particles for cancer radiation treatment. Particle beam radiation therapy is an alternative to other types of cancer radiation therapy such as external radiotherapy with ionizing photon (X- or gamma-ray) beams or brachytherapy with implanted radioactive sources. All types of radiation therapy can harm both cancerous and healthy tissues, so clinicians strive to target the radiation to the cancer while avoiding adjacent healthy tissues. This is particularly important for tumors adjacent to critical body parts such as those in the eye, brain, head and neck. Particle beam radiation therapy can target the radiation with a high degree of precision, but its potential advantages over other radiotherapy alternatives have not [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-10T07:42:42-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Review: Erythropoietin could harm some cancer patients

Source: www.oncologynursingnews.com Author: staff A new review of data confirms that erythropoietin might be unsafe for people with head and neck cancers who receive the drug in combination with radiation: Radiation patients who were given erythropoietin had poorer outcomes than those who undergoing radiation treatment alone. The hormone erythropoietin is used to combat the anemia suffered by many people undergoing cancer treatment. Because severe anemia can lower the oxygen supply to tumor cells, decreased oxygen in these cells is associated with more rapid tumor progression and a poorer response to therapy. “It has therefore been thought logical that using erythropoietin to correct anemia before or during chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or both would improve the prognosis,” observed radiation oncologist Phillippe Lambin and colleagues from the MAASTRO (Maastricht Radiation Oncology) Clinic in the Netherlands. Their review was published in The Cochrane Library (July 2009, issue 3), a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Dr Lambin's team analyzed data from 5 published clinical trials involving nearly 1400 patients. The studies focused on whether combined radiation and erythropoietin was better than standard radiation therapy alone in the treatment of head and neck cancers. The reviewers learned that compared with patients who did not receive erythropoietin, those who did take it had significantly worse overall survival and significantly shorter times before their cancers worsened. Data included in the review suggested that the reduced survival rates in the erythropoietin patients were not due to some toxic effect of the drug itself, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-10T07:30:55-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

A dying smoker, with a British accent

Source: nytimes.com Author: Jennifer B. Lee The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene — never an agency to shy away from using vivid, even grisly, images to combat what it sees as public health scourges, namely soda and cigarettes — is unveiling a new television advertisement to discourage New Yorkers from smoking. This one focuses on the emotional toll of tobacco. It features a British man, Anthony, who is dying of lung and throat cancer, but wheezes out that he is looking forward to seeing his daughter during the holidays. The next frame reveals that Anthony died 10 days later, without having seen his daughter again. City Room wondered how New York City viewers could end up watching a British man in an antismoking ad. After all, the other antismoking stars of late have had New York ties: Ronaldo Martinez, a one-time Bronx resident who uses a device to speak from his throat, and Marie, also of the Bronx, a woman with numerous amputations. It turns out there are a number of central online clearinghouses for antitobacco advertising where health departments and nonprofit organizations can essentially share their outreach efforts. The two most prominent exchanges are run by the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention and World Lung Foundation. For example, the ad featuring Mr. Martinez, which was originally developed for Massachusetts, is also being used in Australia. “There is so much effective media being produced throughout the world,” said Elizabeth Kilgore, acting assistant commissioner of tobacco control at [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-10T07:25:37-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

FDA Advisory Committee recommends approval for use of GARDASIL® in boys and men

Source: www.merck.com Author: press release Merck & Co., Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee agreed that efficacy, immunogenicity and safety data from clinical trials in males support the use of GARDASIL¨ [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] in boys and men 9 through 26 years of age for the prevention of genital warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6 and 11. "Merck has been committed to pursuing the use of GARDASIL in both males and females since the vaccine was discovered over a decade ago," said Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., executive vice president, and president of Merck Research Laboratories. "We are pleased that the Advisory Committee agrees that the data support the use of GARDASIL in boys and men.” The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the FDA in its review of the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) that Merck submitted for GARDASIL in December 2008. The FDA is not bound by the committee’s guidance, but takes its advice into consideration when reviewing vaccines. Merck expects a decision from the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2009 after the agency has completed its review of Merck's application. “Today's discussion with the Advisory Committee brings the public health community closer to being able to provide GARDASIL to both men and women," said Anna R. Giuliano, Ph.D., Moffitt Cancer Center. GARDASIL has been approved for use in the U.S. since June 2006 and is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-09T21:02:25-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|