11/9/2006 England Nick Gibbens www.999today.com Britain's increasing drinking culture could cause the number of mouth cancer cases to spiral to new levels, The British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) has said. The oral health charity issued the warning after government statistics revealed the number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK has almost doubled since 1991. A total of 8,386 people died in 2005 from an alcohol-related illness, compared with just 4,144 in 1991, the Office for National Statistics said. The figures also discovered alcohol death rates were much higher for men than for women. According to the BDHF, one Briton is killed every five hours by mouth cancer, while people who drink alcohol to excess are four times more likely to develop the condition. Furthermore, heavy drinkers who also smoke are about 30 times more likely to develop mouth cancer, the BDHF added. Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the BDHF, said: "Most people are aware that smoking increases your cancer risk but not everyone realises just how dangerous excessive alcohol consumption can be. "People are drinking more and more these days and, with many so called 'social smokers' having a cigarette while they drink the likelihood is that the number of mouth cancer cases will continue to rise until people are forced to take notice." The BDHF's warning came in advance of Mouth Cancer Awareness Week (November 12-18). The campaign, which is being launched on November 13 by chief dental officer Barry Cockroft, aims to halt the continued rise in [...]

11/9/2006 New York, NY Martha Kerr CancerPage.com In a surprising finding, radiation oncologists reported that intravenous delivery is a safe, effective and much more manageable way to administer chemoradiation to patients with inoperable head and neck cancers. Intra-arterial delivery need not be the only option, Dutch researchers told attendees of the 48th annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology held here this week in Philadelphia. Dr. Coen Rasch of The Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhouk Huis in Amsterdam described his team's study of 240 patients with inoperable head and neck cancers who were assigned to either intravenous or intra-arterial delivery of cisplatin plus radiation. Dr. Rasch said both approaches were equally effective. "The initial studies showed that intra-arterial administration is better," Dr. Rasch said. "Surprisingly, we found no differences at all" between the two delivery modes. "The incidence of side effects was different with each approach," he said. There were fewer adverse renal effects with intra-arterial delivery, but a higher incidence of TIAs." "Intravenous chemoradiation is now the standard of care at our institution," Dr. Rasch said. There are clinical situations where one approach may be preferable to the other. "Intra-arterial delivery is better for lateralized tumors, by infusing the artery on that side," Dr. Rasch advised. He added that a large tumor volume may also be better treated with intra-arterial delivery of treatment, but the data on that and the full effects on the kidneys is still being examined.

11/9/2006 Bethesda, MD Carlotta Galeone et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 84, No. 5, 1027-1032, November 2006 Background: Interest in the potential benefits of allium vegetables, in particular, onion (Allium cepa) and garlic (Allium sativum), has its origin in antiquity, but the details of these benefits are still open to discussion. Objective: We investigated the role of allium vegetables in the etiology of various neoplasms. Previous data are scanty and are based mainly on Chinese studies. Design: Using data from an integrated network of Italian and Swiss case-control studies, we analyzed the relation between frequency of onion and garlic use and cancer at several sites. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) by using multivariate logistic regression models that were adjusted for energy intake and other major covariates. Results: Consumption of onions varied between 0–14 and 0–22 portions/wk among cases and controls, respectively. The multivariate ORs for the highest category of onion and garlic intake were, respectively, 0.16 and 0.61 for cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, 0.12 and 0.43 for esophageal cancer, 0.44 and 0.74 for colorectal cancer, 0.17 and 0.56 for laryngeal cancer, 0.75 and 0.90 for breast cancer, 0.27 and 0.78 for ovarian cancer, 0.29 and 0.81 for prostate cancer, and 0.62 and 0.69 for renal cell cancer. Conclusions: This uniquely large data set from southern European populations shows an inverse association between the frequency of use of allium vegetables and the risk of several common cancers. Allium vegetables are a favorable correlate of cancer risk [...]

11/9/2006 United Kingdom M Kishino et al. British Journal of Radiology 2006, doi:10.1259/bjr/69420116 Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate the brachytherapy for early-stage squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (SCO) in relation to second primary upper digestive tract cancers (RUDT). Method: Between 1976 and 2001, 111 previously untreated patients with stage I or II SCO were treated by Au-198 seed brachytherapy alone (36 cases) or Au-198 seed brachytherapy plus external irradiation (75 cases). Of the 111 patients, 28 had stage I and 83 had stage II disease. Each patient was evaluated for therapeutic efficacy, post-treatment quality of life (QOL), and a second cancer. Findings: The 5-year and 10-year cause-specific actuarial survival rates for stage I and II SCOs were 87% and 86%, respectively. Although, the 5-year and 10-year survival rates for all SCO combined with second primary RUDT cancers were 71% and 45%, respectively. 51 second primary RUDT cancer occurred successively in 41 patients following treatment for early stage oropharyngeal cancer and was the sole prognostic factor by the multivariate analysis. Au-198 seed brachytherapy with/without ipsilateral external irradiation up to 30 Gy was associated with fewer late complications in the oral cavity and salivary gland. Conclusions: Our treatment policy of brachytherapy with/without external irradiation for patients with early stage SCO was effective and acceptable from the standpoint of tumour control and post-treatment QOL. Authors: M Kishino 1, H Shibuya 1, R Yoshimura 1, S M Miura 2, H Watanabe 2 Authors' affiliations: 1 Department of Radiology, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental [...]

11/9/2006 United Kingdom press release MedicalNewsToday.com Although current surgical techniques and multi-modality treatment regimens allow organ preservation for a growing number of patients with head and neck cancers, remaining dependent on a feeding tube after treatment is a major problem for these patients. An analysis by Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers sought to identify which treatment-related factors are more likely to avoid feeding-tube dependency. "Three-dimensional treatment planning appears to have a significant impact on improving quality of life by reducing feeding tube dependency," said medical intern Linna Li, M.D., who presented the results today at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Philadelphia. The retrospective study analyzed treatment records since 1997 for patients receiving definitive radiation therapy--with or without surgery and chemotherapy--for squamous-cell carcinomas of the throat, including oropharynx, hypoharynx and larynx. Definitive radiotherapy is a curative course of radiation treatment designed to eradicate a known cancer. Eligible patients--a total of 90--had either stage III or IV cancer with no prior surgery or radiation therapy in the head and neck region and remained cancer-free 18 months or more after completing radiation therapy. The majority of patients were men (82 percent) who had oropharyngeal cancer (63 percent) with a T stage (extent of primary tumor, including size, at diagnosis) of either T2 or T3 (71 percent). Only 44 percent had neck surgery, but 58 percent had concurrent chemotherapy. Only 10 percent had radiation treatments using altered fractionation schemes. Sixty percent had two-dimensional treatment planning [...]

11/9/2006 Prague, Czech Republic Chris Berrie Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) The broad-spectrum antitumour agent sorafenib has modest efficacy in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) or nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), according to a single-arm, phase 2 trial. However, the drug is well tolerated and easy to deliver, and provides an attractive option for combination treatment in these patients, the researcher said in a presentation here on November 8th at the 18th European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer - National Cancer Institute - American Association for Cancer Research (AACR-NCI-EORTC) 18th Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. "For patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and NPC there is no very effective first-line therapy, and although there can be some response for nasopharyngeal cancer, survival is still around a year, and for both of these diseases there is no standard second-line therapy," said investigator Christine Elser, MD, clinical fellow, medical oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Sorafenib has previously demonstrated broad-spectrum, antitumour activity through its actions as a multikinase inhibitor that targets the pathways for epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor-Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor signalling. Dr. Elser and colleagues therefore conducted their study to determine the efficacy of sorafenib as a single agent in patients with recurrent or metastatic SCCHN or NPC. The study's secondary objectives were to assess the rate of stable disease, time to disease progression, median survival duration, safety and [...]

11/8/2006 New York, NY staff Reuters (today.reuters.com) Smoking and heavy alcohol use may curb the likelihood of survival among men diagnosed with cancer, researchers from South Korea report. There is some evidence that these "cancer risk factors" boost mortality among cancer patients, Dr. Young Ho Yun of the National Cancer Center in Goyang and colleagues note. But to date no one has investigated how having these risk factors before cancer is diagnosed influences survival afterwards. Yun's team looked at data from 14,578 male cancer patients, all of whom had data on their pre-diagnosis health risk behaviors on record. They were followed for an average of about nine years after their cancer diagnosis. Men who had been smokers were at greater risk of dying from any type of cancer than non-smoking cancer patients, the researchers found. There is evidence that smokers are less likely to undergo cancer screening tests such as colonoscopy, so they may be diagnosed with cancer later on when it is more difficult to treat, the researchers note. Cigarette smoking itself, they add, could also make tumors grow more aggressively. Heavy drinkers were more likely to die from head and neck or liver cancer than non-drinkers with either type of cancer, and the risk rose in tandem with the amount of alcohol consumed. Drinking alcohol may increase tumor aggressiveness, the researchers say, or make people less likely to comply with treatment recommendations. Men who were resistant to the effects of the blood-sugar-processing hormone insulin, which is a warning [...]

11/7/2006 Bethesda, MD staff National Institute of Health (www.nih.gov) Of the 44.5 million adult smokers in the United States, 70 percent want to quit and 40 percent make a serious quit attempt each year, but fewer than 5 percent succeed in any given year. Effective tobacco cessation interventions are available and could double or triple quit rates, but not enough smokers request or are being offered these interventions. Tobacco use is a major public health concern, and a national, coordinated strategy for tobacco control that casts a wide net is needed to address this critical gap. This was a key finding of an NIH state-of-the-science panel convened this week to assess the available scientific evidence on tobacco use prevention, cessation, and control. Full text of the panel’s draft state-of-the-science statement will be available later today at http://consensus.nih.gov, including the panel’s identification of promising directions for future research. The panel found that smoking cessation interventions/treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy, telephone quitlines, and counseling were individually effective, and even more effective in combination. The panel also concluded that there is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of economic strategies such as increasing the cost of tobacco products through taxes and reducing out-of-pocket costs for effective cessation therapies. “It’s important to recognize tobacco use as a serious, chronic health issue that requires sustained attention,” said David F. Ransohoff, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the conference panel. “Quitting is a struggle, but [...]

11/7/2006 Philadelphia, PA staff USNewswire.com Chemoradiation (radiation and chemotherapy given at the same time) given through a needle or tube inserted into a vein (intravenous) is as effective as treatment given directly to the tumor through a tube inserted into an artery (intra-arterial) for patients with inoperable head and neck cancer, according to a randomized study presented at the plenary session November 6, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. "We were surprised about the findings because previous studies that were not randomized found that intra-arterial chemoradiation was more effective than intravenous treatment," said Coen Rasch, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Huis in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. "Since intravenous chemoradiation is an easier treatment procedure for patients and doctors, it should be considered the standard of care for inoperable head and neck cancer." The study compared intra-arterial to intravenous chemoradiation in 240 patients with inoperable head and neck cancer, who were assigned to one of the treatment procedures by chance. The chemoradiation was a combination of radiation and cisplatin, a type of chemotherapy that can kill cancer cells, especially when combined with radiation. Results found that both treatment methods were able to control the same amount of cancer growth.

11/7/2006 Durham, NC staff HealthNewsDigest.com Debora Tisdale didn't want to lose her heart in the process of saving her cancerous breast. She feared that during radiation treatment, the searing beams intended to attack her breast tumor could also inadvertently strike her healthy heart. "I thought, 'I'm going to live through breast cancer and then die of a heart attack," said 44-year-old Tisdale of Raleigh, N.C. Her family history of heart disease only intensified her worries. Just a year ago, the state of radiation technologies may have justified Tisdale's fears: radiation was difficult to harness and channel directly to the tumor, and healthy tissue often was damaged during treatment. But today, scientists in Duke University Medical Center's Department of Radiation Oncology, along with scientists at a handful of other institutions, are providing the medical equivalent of a guided navigation system to irradiate the tumor itself while avoiding healthy tissue nearby. The new techniques, known as "intensity-modulated radiation therapy" (IMRT) and "image-guided radiation therapy" (IGRT), are so precise that they hit the tumor while barely straying outside its perimeter, said Fang Fang Yin, Ph.D., director of radiation physics at Duke. The technology enables physicians to view the tumor in real time, with a three-dimensional view, as it shifts with the patient's breathing and the motion of nearby organs. Yin presented new data on Duke's experience using the technologies to treat patients on Monday, Nov. 6, 2006, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, in Philadelphia. According [...]