Oral Cancer News

Early oral cancer detection: Why you? Why now?

Source: www.rdhmag.com Author: Jonathan A. Bregman, DDS, FAGD What motivates any of us as dental health-care providers? Specifically, what motivates us to do a complete early oral cancer screening? As I travel around the country discussing the topic of early oral cancer detection, four key motivators stand out. 1. Malpractice risk Are you familiar with these malpractice facts? - Lack of diagnosis or delayed diagnosis of oral cancer is the No. 2 reason for malpractice claims in the U.S. -The average claim is settled for approximately 1 million ? yes 1 million ? dollars - The average age of claimants is early 40s - It is the hardest suit to defend Did that get your attention? I hope so! Why do so many dentists lose these lawsuits, with some dentists literally now unable to purchase malpractice insurance at all? The answer is simple: The lack of a complete and properly recorded early oral cancer screening examination. Maybe this could be your motivator to incorporate an early oral cancer screening system into your office. 2. The right way to practice dentistry In dentistry, as with all professions, the terms "best practice" or "excellence in service/care" are very broad. How dentistry is performed on a daily basis is up to the individual practitioner and his/her dental team. Also, included in the mix is the number of "unique" or "different" procedures performed in the office. Thus, defining excellent care or "the right way to practice dentistry" varies. A complete early oral cancer screening may [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-09T09:25:08-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

This Mr. America still pumps iron and turns heads at age 75

Source: OC Register Author: Staff Bill Howard, a former Mr. America, wears a silver hair piece styled in a pony tail. He doesn't spend his days lifting at Muscle Beach anymore, so he buys his sun-kissed look at a tanning bed near his apartment in Costa Mesa. Howard turns 75 next week and he's still turning heads with his rippling biceps and bulging chest. In fitness and life, Howard has built himself up from nothing over and over again. But before he tells his story, he's got to work his arms. ••• Howard arrives at Fitness Authority driving a red Chrysler with a vanity plate that reads "MUSCLEB." He's wearing what he calls his "show off" short denim shorts, and a black racer-back tank top. He keeps the same 8 a.m. lifting routine five mornings a week, isolating a different muscle group for an hour. As he does 12-rep sets of 100-pound bicep curls, he closes his eyes and grimaces and growls. His wrinkled face looks much older than his taut body. "I'm trying to make a statement," he says in his deep, booming voice. "We don't have to get old and decrepit." His friends revere him as a bodybuilding icon. "You look at the guy, you just go Holy Smokes," says Bernie Rubio, owner of Fitness Authority gym in Costa Mesa. "He was asked by Arnold to be in "Pumping Iron," but he went on his honeymoon instead. This guy was there. He was part of it." When asked [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-08T19:05:46-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Nutrition and cancer

Source: insciences.org Author: Relatively recently, researchers have become keenly interested in exploring which food compounds are beneficial in treating and preventing serious diseases such as cancer and osteoporosis. Omer Kucuk, MD, is one of those researchers. Kucuk, a professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory Winship Cancer Institute, studies specific food compounds and their effect on cancer prevention and treatment. Evidence indicates that some food compounds, such as soy isoflavones and curcumin, can increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. To listen to Kucuk's own words about which food compounds affect cancer prevention and treatment, access Emory's new Sound Science podcast at http://whsc.emory.edu/soundscience/. Kucuk conducted the first clinical trials to show the benefits of soy and lycopene supplements in prostate cancer treatment. "In our preclinical studies we have observed that taking soy isoflavones during chemotherapy and radiation for advanced prostate cancer can improve the efficacy of the treatments," says Kucuk. "The compounds sensitize the cancer cells to chemotherapy and radiation while at the same time they protect the normal tissues from side effects." Most nutritional compounds used for therapy or disease prevention can be taken as part of a routine diet and have little if any side effects, Kucuk says. "People can get enough lycopene by eating tomato paste and tomato sauce, which is very rich in lycopene. So, if people ate a couple of ounces of tomato paste a day as part of a regular diet, they would eat enough to get all the benefits," he says. [...]

Webmaster2009-05-08T19:01:05-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Perceptronix Reports Clinical Study Underway to Evaluate OralAdvance(TM) for Early Detection of Oral Cancer

Source: www.earthtimes.org Author: press release Perceptronix Medical Inc. announces that a clinical study of OralAdvance(TM), a test for the early detection of oral cancer, is now underway. The clinical study will assess the performance of OralAdvance(TM) compared to the gold standard biopsy and histology for its ability to differentiate between visually suspicious oral lesions with cancer or pre-cancer and visually suspicious benign oral lesions. "Unlike many other types of cancer, the incidence and mortality rates of oral cancer have not shown significant improvement over the past 30 years. By the time most oral cancers are diagnosed, they are already symptomatic late-stage disease. At Perceptronix we are dedicated to changing this paradigm towards early detection for better patient outcomes," says Dr. Bojana Turic, President and CEO of Perceptronix. Patients for the blinded study will be recruited from the BC Cancer Agency's Vancouver and Fraser Valley Centres. "We are pleased to be able to participate in the evaluation of the test in a clinical setting with technology that was developed in partnership with scientists at the BC Cancer Agency's Research Centre, and we are hopeful that the test will have a positive impact on the early detection of oral cancer," says Dr. Allan Hovan (Provincial Professional Practice Leader, Program in Oral Oncology/Dentistry, BC Cancer Agency). Currently, the death rate for oral cancer is higher than that of cervical cancer, Hodgkin's disease, cancer of the brain, liver, testes, kidney, or malignant melanoma. High death rate associated with oral cancer could be reduced significantly [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-08T18:56:15-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer ‘sniffing nose’ developed by an Israeli researcher

Source: www.deccanherald.com Author: staff A nose, that can sniff cancer at an early stage, thus, leading to wide variety of treatments enhancing a patients chances of recovery has been developed by the scientist at Israel Institute of Technology. The "sniffing nose" is very close to a dog's olfactory system, a media report here said. The artificial nose is developed on the grounds that dogs are capable of detecting cancer in earlier stages by sniffing the patient's breath and could also identify molecules created by a tumor that circulate through their blood to the lungs, and leave the body when they exhale. Results of clinical trials of the 'artificial nose ' done on some 100 persons -- 62 cancer patients -- reveals that it is capable of efficiently and accurately distinguishing between cancer patients and healthy people and could even detect the location and nature of the tumor. "These findings are impressive, but initial, and must be verified in research on a larger number of patients", Professor Abraham Kuten, Co-researcher and Director of the Rambam Medical Center Oncology Institute, told the news portal. The clinical trials were conducted at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa by a team led by Dr Hossam Haick of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute The patients taking part in the experiment suffered from lung, breast, colon, prostate, head and neck cancer. The participants breathed into bags which were transferred to the Technion for testing and the results were compared to details of the patients' diseases according [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-08T18:55:39-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Pharmaceuticals, patents, publicity…and philanthropy?

Source: The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9665, Page 693, 28 February 2009 Author: staff Tensions between provision of and payment for health care are familiar. Though doctors assume principal responsibility for patients' health, those who work for pharmaceutical companies view the patented medicines they design as key components of health care. Creative ways are continually found to make such drugs available to as many patients in high-income countries as possible, the profits contributing to future investment in development and leaving national drug budgets affordable, just. Yet, a few hours' flying away, patients in developing countries usually have no access to these very same patented drugs. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has grown in size and influence by successful drug development, timely takeovers, and shrewd management. Andrew Witty, who ascended to the vertiginous position of chief executive at GSK in the past year, has attracted attention by a surprising presentation at Harvard Medical School on Feb 13. He promises that GSK will now not only make its medicines available much more cheaply to patients in low-income countries, but also make a bolder commitment to research into neglected diseases. As one blogger puts it, “arise Sir Andrew Witty (or is it Saint Andrew?)”. Does this announcement mark a sea change in pharma's attitude to the provision of drugs in poor countries, or could it be more reminiscent of the zany hybrid vehicles that distract attention from car manufacturers' shamelessly polluting stock in trade? Witty's words were carefully weighed to cast a rosy glow around GSK's [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-08T18:54:41-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Snus news & other tobacco products

Source: snus-news.blogspot.com Author: blog post Twenty-six of the United States' leading tobacco control researchers and policy experts have called for regulatory control of all tobacco products. They also called for policies that encourage current tobacco users to reduce their health risks by switching from the most to the least harmful nicotine-containing products. This group met in a two-year process they called The Strategic Dialogue on Tobacco Harm Reduction - members met four times between December 2005 and August 2007. Their vision: a world in which virtually no one uses cigarettes. But the group acknowledged that smokeless-tobacco products are an option for reducing health risks for tobacco users. They also called for policies that encourage current tobacco users to reduce their health risks by switching from the most to the least harmful nicotine-containing products. Paper: Mitch Zeller et al., The strategic dialogue on tobacco harm reduction: A vision and blueprint for action in the United States, Tob Control 2009 0: 200802731, ABSTRACT... Murray Kessler, former Chief Executive Officer of UST, Inc - the world's leading producer of moist smokeless tobacco products - tells us that 9 out of 10 smokers that try smokeless reject the product. Smokers faced with the increased in the federal tax on cigarettes (effective April 1, 2009) have been telling clerks at c-stores they're thinking of quitting but hardly anyone has indicated they are thinking of switching to smokeless tobacco. We’re all for this safer alternative if distribution could be limited to inveterate tobacco smokers (smokers who [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-08T18:49:23-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Glaxo’s cervical cancer vaccine faces US battle

Source: Forbes.com Author: Linda A. Johnson New studies show GlaxoSmithKline PLC's vaccine Cervarix blocks the virus that causes cervical cancer, but if it wins approval for U.S. sales, it will face an uphill battle against Gardasil, which has owned the market here for three years. Cervarix, Glaxo's vaccine against human papilloma virus or HPV, already is approved in more than 90 other countries, but has been held up by delays in the United States. Several years ago, the British drugmaker was in a neck-and-neck race with rival Merck & Co., Gardasil's maker, to be first on the U.S. market, but it lost when Gardasil got approved in June 2006. Late in 2007, the Food and Drug Administration declined to approve approve Cervarix. GlaxoSmithKline submitted a new application on March 30 that included final data from an 18,000-woman study recently completed. Final results from that study and two others are being presented this weekend at a conference in Sweden on papillomavirus. FDA is expected to decide whether to approve Cervarix within several months. If it does, analyst Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said doctors who have prescribed Gardasil for a few years may see no reason to switch - unless GlaxoSmithKline convinces them its product is much more effective or has fewer side effects. Both vaccines target the two types of HPV that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers, types 16 and 18, and data indicate both are about 98 percent effective. But Merck also [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-05-08T18:53:28-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New diagnostic advance seen for head, throat cancer

Source: www.biocompare.com Author: press release Pharmacy researchers at Oregon State University today announced the discovery of a genetic regulator that is expressed at higher levels in the most aggressive types of head and neck cancers, in work that may help to identify them earlier or even offer a new therapy at some point in the future. This "transcriptional regulator" is called CTIP2, and in recent research has been demonstrated to be a master regulator that has important roles in many biological functions, ranging from the proper development of enamel on teeth to skin formation and the possible treatment of eczema or psoriasis. In the newest study, published today in PLoS ONE, a professional journal, scientists found for the first time that levels of CTIP2 were more than five times higher in the "poorly differentiated" tumor cells that caused the most deadly types of squamous cell carcinomas in the larynx, throat, tongue and other parts of the head. There was a high correlation between greater CTIP2 expression and the aggressive nature of the cancer. Head and neck squamous cell cancers are the sixth most common cancers in the world, the researchers said in their study, and a significant cause of mortality. In 2008, cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx alone accounted for 35,310 new cases in the United States and 7,590 deaths. They have been linked to such things as tobacco use and alcohol consumption. "Serious head and throat cancer is pretty common, and mortality rates from it haven't improved [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-06T13:44:22-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

From cars to cancer: UH professor employs auto industry tools for tumor therapy

Source: www.genengnews.com Author: staff An effort is under way at the University of Houston to use technologies with origins in the automobile industry to develop new tools that will help doctors and technicians better plan radiation therapy for patients with head and neck cancer. Dr. Ali Kamrani, founding director of the Design and Free Form Fabrication Laboratory at UH and a former auto industry researcher, is teaming up with Dr. Lei Dong, associate professor and deputy research director of radiation physics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, to develop predictive models of tumors that hopefully will increase the accuracy of radiation therapy. "We aim to better understand tumor deformations using geometric and statistical models rather than repetitive CT scans," said Kamrani, an associate professor of industrial engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering. "In this case, patients will undergo a minimum number of CT scans, and the radiation plans will be developed using the predictive models." Traditional computed tomography sessions, also known as CT scans, require a large series of two-dimensional X-ray images that, when combined, provide detailed three-dimensional images of many types of tissue. "A CT scan is used to collect information with respect to tumor size, location and volume," he said. "But the CT scan itself is a source of harmful radiation to body tissues and other organs. During the treatment, patients undergo a series of CT scans, which are costly and tedious." Reducing the number of CT scans is a primary objective for Kamrani, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-06T13:31:06-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|