Oral Cancer News – Page 103 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Smoking rates are down, but a different type of tobacco use is on the rise

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com Author: Anna Almendrala First, the good news: Smoking rates are down significantly in 26 states. The bad news? The use of smokeless tobacco (also known as dip, snuff or chew) is up in four states, while using both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is up significantly in five states. “Although overall cigarette smoking prevalence has declined significantly in recent years in many states, the overall use of smokeless tobacco and concurrent cigarette and smokeless tobacco has remained unchanged in most states and increased in some states,” summed up researchers for the Centers for Disease Control, which published the data in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality report. From 2011 to 2013, four states showed increased smokeless tobacco use: Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina and West Virginia. Only two states -- Ohio and Tennessee -- exhibited decreases. In terms of total use, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia reported the lowest numbers of smokeless tobacco, at 1.5 percent, in 2013. In contrast, West Virginia reported the highest use, at 9.4 percent, with Wyoming and Montana coming in second and third, at 8.8 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Breaking down tobacco use by state helps health officials create more targeted state and local tobacco policies, explained CDC researcher Kimberly Nguyen in an email to HuffPost. "It’s important to note that the states with lower tobacco use prevalence typically have more robust tobacco control programs and greater adoption of evidence-based population level interventions," she wrote. The findings are significant because past research has [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-24T07:28:34-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Factors linked with better survival in oral cancer identified

Source: www.cancertherapyadvisor.com Author: staff Factors associated with improved survival in oral cavity squamous cell cancer (OCSCC) include neck dissection and treatment at academic or research institutions, according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. Alexander L. Luryi, from the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and colleagues analyzed correlations between treatment variables and survival in patients with stages I and II OCSCC. Data were included for 6,830 patients. The researchers found that five-year survival was 69.7 percent. Treatment factors that correlated with improved survival on univariate analysis included treatment at academic or research institutions, no radiation therapy, no chemotherapy, and negative margins (all P < 0.001). Improved survival was also seen in association with neck dissection (P = 0.001). Treatment at academic or research institutions correlated with increased likelihood of receiving neck dissection and decreased likelihood of receiving radiation therapy or having positive margins. Neck dissection and treatment at academic or research institutions correlated with improved survival on multivariate analysis (hazard ratios, 0.85 and 0.88, respectively), while compromised survival was seen for positive margins, insurance through Medicare, and adjuvant radiation therapy or chemotherapy (hazard ratios, 1.27, 1.45, 1.31, and 1.34, respectively). "Overall survival for early OCSCC varies with demographic and tumor characteristics but also varies with treatment and system factors, which may represent targets for improving outcomes in this disease," the authors write. Reference Luryi, Alexander L., BS, et al. "Treatment Factors Associated With Survival in Early-Stage Oral Cavity Cancer: Analysis of 6830 Cases [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-16T18:45:14-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

The Beginning of the End: Vaccine Prevention of HPV-Driven Cancers

Source: JNCI - Journal of the National Cancer Institute Anna R. Giuliano, Aimée R. Kreimer and Silvia de Sanjose + Author Affiliations Affiliations of authors: Center for Infection Research in Cancer, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL (ARG); Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD (ARK); Cancer Epidemiology Research Programme, Catalan Institute of Oncology, IDIBELL, Spain (SdS); CIBER Epidemiologia y Salut Pública, Barcelona, Spain (SdS). Correspondence to: Anna R. Giuliano, PhD, Professor and Director, Center for Infection Research in Cancer, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, MRC-CAN CONT, 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL 33612 (e-mail: [email protected]). In this issue of the Journal, Saraiya and coauthors present an important analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV) detection in tumors retrieved from select US sites prior to HPV vaccine implementation (2006) (1). Not only are these data necessary to evaluate future vaccine effectiveness in reducing cancers caused by HPV infection, but they will also aid in the growing assessment of the worldwide burden of tumors attributable to HPV infection. These data raise the question: How many cases of cancer can be prevented by HPV vaccination in the United States? Twenty years ago, in 1995, the World Health Organization recognized for the first time that HPV 16 is the cause of cervical cancer. In 2005, 10 years after this report, there was sufficient accumulated evidence to state that HPV 16 is also the cause of multiple cancers in men and women, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-11T13:33:23-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Second-line afatinib shows promise

Source: www.nature.com Author: David Killock Patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma and disease progression after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy have a dismal prognosis. There is no standard second-line therapy; however, afatinib, an irreversible inhibitor of HER family kinases, has shown efficacy in this setting. The LUX-Head & Neck 1 phase III trial randomly assigned patients to afatinib (n = 322) or methotrexate (n = 161) therapy. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 2.6 months with afatinib versus 1.7 months (P = 0.03). “The study was also powered to detect a difference in overall survival, which was not significantly improved,” explains lead author Jean-Pascal Machiels, “however, patient-reported outcomes were better with afatinib.” Afatinib was associated with delayed deterioration of global health status, less pain, and improved swallowing, potentially related to the prolonged PFS, compared with methotrexate. Furthermore, afatinib toxicity was manageable and deemed favourable to that of methotrexate. The patients were unselected for disease subtype, ~60% had received prior anti-EGFR antibody therapy, and 51% received further lines of treatment, possibly diluting the treatment effect of afatinib acheter levitra en ligne. Notably, patients with human papilloma virus (p16)-negative non-oropharyngeal cancer and local recurrence (rather than metastasis), who had not previously received an anti-EGFR antibody seemed to derive the most benefit in preplanned subgroup analyses. Machiels concludes, “Afatinib has some activity in head and neck cancer, but we need to better understand which patients will benefit from this therapy.” References Machiels, J.-P. H. et al. Afatinib versus methotrexate as second-line treatment [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-06T14:13:24-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

The case for extending the HPV vaccine is clear and urgent

Source: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk Author: Dr Shaun Griffin Last month the world marked Immunization Week, an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of routine life-saving immunizations and how they have transformed our approach to public health over the course of centuries. Close the Immunization Gap was this year's theme by the World Health Organisation. Progress towards global vaccination targets for 2015 is far off-track, according to the WHO one in five children still miss out on routine life-saving immunizations that could avert 1.5 million deaths each year from preventable diseases. The immunization gap also extends to gender, age and sexuality. A vaccination programme against the human papillomavirus (HPV) began in 2008 in the UK for girls aged 12-13 to reduce their risk of developing cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV. However, emerging research over the past eight years has found that cancers of the head, mouth, throat, penis and anus can also be caused by strains of the virus. The incidence rate of anal cancer in men who have sex with men (MSM) is increasing. Anal cancer incidence rates in MSM are equivalent to the rates that existed for cervical cancer in women before 1988, when the Government introduced the cervical cancer screening programme. Cancer Research UK (CRUK) estimated incidence rate of anal cancer is 78 per 100,000 per year in HIV-positive MSMs who are on HAART (anti-retroviral treatment), compared with 5 per 100,000 per year in HIV-negative MSMs. Around 5,500 men were diagnosed with oral, penile or anal cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-06T14:07:25-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Laser Treatment Halts Oral Mucositis in Its Tracks

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Fran Lowry Spa-like treatment with a cool, low-level laser, similar to that use for wrinkles, vanquishes oral mucositis, one of the most debilitating toxicities of cancer therapy. "I have been an oncology nurse for over 25 years, and in those 25 years, there has been nothing that helps prevent or is effective against the treatment for oral mucositis, until now," said Annette Quinn, RN, MSN, from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. "Patients say they rank it higher than nausea and vomiting when it comes to adverse side effects, especially because we have good medications to control nausea and vomiting. But the low-level laser works better than we could have hoped," Quinn told Medscape Medical News. She presented results from a pilot project at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 40th Annual Congress in Orlando, Florida. Oral mucositis affects virtually all head and neck cancer patients undergoing chemo and radiation therapy, and about 75% to 100% of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation with whole-body irradiation experience some degree of oral mucositis. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been used to treat oral mucositis for a decade in Europe and South America, but it has not made its way to the United States because there is no mechanism for reimbursement, Quinn reported. She hopes this study will change that. "Reimbursement is the main obstacle to its use in the United States, but for this study, I was able to secure the treatment [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-05-04T10:29:44-07:00May, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Three things you might not know about HPV

Source: www.huffingtonpost.ca Author: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre April 26 to May 2 is National Immunization Awareness week in Canada. One immunization known for raising a lot of questions is the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, provided free of charge in Ontario to girls in grades 8-12, and following provincial schedules across the country. While there is lots of information online, at school and at the doctor's office about HPV, there is still a lot of confusion about what it may mean for your loved ones. Dr. Nancy Durand, gynecologist at Sunnybrook, explains three little-known facts about HPV. 1) HPV causes cancer in men, too When Michael Douglas candidly revealed his oral cancer was caused by HPV, many people expressed surprise. Even though HPV has traditionally been thought of as a disease that affects women and mainly causes cervical cancer, men are actually at higher risk of being diagnosed with certain types of HPV-positive cancers than women. "It's not well understood why men are at higher risk for HPV-positive oral cancer, but it does point out that vaccination in men is even more important than we may have previously thought," says Dr. Durand. Physicians are learning more and more that HPV can also cause other cancers in both women and men, such as anal cancers and head & neck cancers (cancers of the base of the tongue, tonsils and soft palate). 2) Not all HPV infections lead to cancer You've probably read some of the (slightly scary) statistics about HPV: Three in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-04-29T13:19:58-07:00April, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

U-M scientists observe deadly dance between nerves and cancer cells

Source: ns.umich.edu Author: Laura Bailey In certain types of cancer, nerves and cancer cells enter an often lethal and intricate waltz where cancer cells and nerves move toward one another and eventually engage in such a way that the cancer cells enter the nerves. The fluorescence image shows the interaction between the nerve (red) and cancer (green). Image credit: Nisha D’Silva The findings, appearing in Nature Communications, challenge conventional wisdom about perineural invasion, which holds that cancer cells are marauders that invade nerves through the path of least resistance, said Nisha D'Silva, principal investigator and professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. D'Silva's lab discovered that perineural invasion is actually a much more intricately choreographed biochemical give-and-take between the nerves and the cancer cells. "Once head and neck cancer invades the nerves, it is one of the worst things that can happen," said D'Silva, who also has a joint appointment at the U-M Medical School Department of Pathology and is a member of the U-M Cancer Center's Head and Neck Oncology program. "It is highly correlated with poor patient survival, and there is no targeted treatment for it because it is not known why some tumors do this and some don't." Perineural invasion is seen most in head and neck, pancreatic, stomach and colon cancers, and causes severe pain or numbness, tumor spread and recurrence, and loss of function, among other complications. D'Silva's lab found that perineural invasion begins when the nerve releases a stimulus that triggers a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-04-29T13:13:53-07:00April, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Double the N.I.H. Budget

Source: NYTimes.comAuthor: Newt Gingrich MCLEAN, Va. — NO one who lived through the 1990s would have suspected that one day people would look back on the period as a golden age of bipartisan cooperation. But in some important ways, it was. Amid the policy fights that followed the Republican victories of 1994, President Bill Clinton and the new majorities in Congress reached one particularly good deal: doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health. The decision was bipartisan, because health is both a moral and financial issue. Government spends more on health care than any other area. Taxpayers spend more than $1 trillion a year for Medicare and Medicaid alone, and even more when you add in programs like Veterans Affairs, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Indian Health Service. Unfortunately, since the end of the five-year effort that roughly doubled the N.I.H. budget by 2003, funding for the institutes has been flat. The N.I.H. budget (about $30 billion last year) has effectively been reduced by more than 20 percent since then. As 92 percent of the N.I.H. budget goes directly to research, one result is that the institutes awarded 12.5 percent fewer grants last year than in 2003. Grant applications, over the same period, increased by almost 50 percent. Even as we’ve let financing for basic scientific and medical research stagnate, government spending on health care has grown significantly. That should trouble every fiscal conservative. As a conservative myself, I’m often skeptical of government “investments.” But when it comes [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-04-22T10:25:13-07:00April, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

LED Dental Joins With the Oral Cancer Foundation to promote oral cancer early detection initiative

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: press release LED Dental Inc. has announced that the company will be serving as a strategic partner in the Oral Cancer Foundation's "Be Part of the Change"(TM) program, seeking to promote the importance of routine comprehensive oral screenings and early detection in the fight against oral cancer. The Oral Cancer Foundation initiated the "Be Part of the Change"(TM) campaign to help promote a shift in paradigm with regard to the screening for oral cancer, creating a movement toward earlier detection of oral disease. While regular oral screenings are a key tool in the early detection of oral cancer and pre-cancerous lesions, many patients are not receiving routine oral examinations that could potentially locate a serious oral health concern. The Oral Cancer Foundation is working to change the mindset of the oral healthcare industry, making improved oral screening protocols a priority in every dental practice. "The best defense any patient has against oral disease and oral cancer is early detection, which is where dental practitioners can effect change," said Brian Hill, founder and executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation. "When oral cancer is located in earlier stages, there is higher probability for reduced treatment related morbidity and improved patient outcomes. Our goal is to get healthcare professionals to commit to performing routine comprehensive oral examinations on every patient, especially during hygiene visits and recall appointments." As the manufacturer of the market-leading VELscope® Vx Enhanced Oral Assessment, LED Dental has joined the Oral Cancer Foundation's cause, providing a free [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-05-18T22:22:16-07:00April, 2015|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|