Oral Cancer News – Page 129 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Dental hygienist, consultant detects own oral cancer

Source: www.dentistryiq.com Author: Shelli Castor Dental hygienist and practice-management consultant Barbara Boland discovered at the young age of 41 that she had oral cancer. Boland is now a 10-year cancer survivor, and she hopes her story and experiences will serve to start a continuing dialogue about oral cancer, especially among dental professionals. Boland graduated from Temple University in Pennsylvania in 1982 and has been working as a practice-management consultant for 24 years. In December 2002, she discovered a peculiar white spot on her tongue that she knew she hadn’t noticed before. She kept an eye on the spot for a month, and because it was changing, she showed her tongue to a head and neck surgeon. The surgeon responded that it couldn’t be cancer for various reasons: she didn’t smoke or drink, she was female, and she was “too young” — there was no way the spot could be cancer. While such an almost flippant response to a patient’s concerns seems wildly out of place and unexpected today, Boland notes that 10 years ago, dental and medical professionals were not well-educated on the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of oral cancer. For dental and medical professionals 10 years ago, the most common risk factors included tobacco and alcohol use, age, and the fact that males had a higher incidence of oral cancer than females. Boland fit none of those categories, and so her concerns were not seen as pressing. Still, the spot on her tongue “didn’t feel right” to her. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-10-15T07:37:56-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas: ‘Throat cancer’ was really tongue cancer

Source: cnn.com Author: Jen Christensen, CNN Michael Douglas never had throat cancer, as he told the press in 2010. The actor now says he had tongue cancer. Douglas said he hid the diagnosis at the urging of his doctor to protect his career. "The surgeon said, 'Let's just say it's throat cancer,' " Douglas told fellow actor Samuel L. Jackson for a segment that ran on British television as a part of Male Cancer Awareness Week. Douglas says that the doctor told him if they had to do surgery for tongue cancer, "it's not going to be pretty. You could lose part of your tongue and jaw." When Douglas first talked about his cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2010, he was on a worldwide publicity tour for the movie "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Douglas and Jackson joked that could have been the end of his acting career. Douglas said if he had surgery he could see the director saying, "What's your good side? I've got no side over here." "There really is no such thing as throat cancer per se," explained Brian Hill, an oral cancer survivor and the founder of the Oral Cancer Foundation. Douglas has taped a public service announcement to raise awareness about oral cancer for Hill's foundation. "Throat" cancer and tongue cancer are both colloquial terms that fall under the oral cancer umbrella. Throat cancer usually refers to cancerous tumors that develop in your pharynx, voice box or tonsils. Tongue cancer refers to cancerous [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-10-15T07:17:01-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Positive results for Acacia in cancer drug trials

Source: http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/ Author: staff Positive results from a Phase II study of APD515 – a drug to treat xerostomia (dry mouth) in advanced cancer patients – have been reported by Cambridge UK medical technology business Acacia Pharma. The study showed that APD515 significantly reduced the symptoms of dry mouth compared to placebo. Dr Julian Gilbert, Acacia Pharma’s CEO said: “Dry mouth is a common and distressing issue in advanced cancer patients that is significantly under-recognised. “It is associated with a wide range of oral and systemic complications and can contribute to a greatly reduced quality of life. Our market research indicates that a locally delivered, liquid formulation of a suitable salivary stimulant would be of major benefit to many cancer sufferers, and these data indicate that APD515 should meet this profile.” The trial was conducted in 11 centres in the UK and Denmark and enrolled 32 patients with advanced cancer and a persistently dry mouth http://kodu.ut.ee/~roma1956/images/phocagallery2/gallery/generic-cialis.html. The study met its primary endpoint of a significant improvement in the subjective scoring of mouth dryness after one week of treatment with APD515 compared to placebo. Dr. Gabriel Fox, Acacia Pharma’s chief medical officer, added: “This was a robust trial, whose cross-over design allowed us to compare the effects of APD515 and placebo in the same patient. “The study has shown an unequivocal benefit for APD515 in advanced cancer patients suffering with a dry mouth. APD515 is the first product opportunity to be developed in this hitherto poorly managed patient group.” Initially, Acacia [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-10-15T07:05:30-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

A woman died from throat cancer after doctors initially believed she had an eating disorder

Source: Wales Online Author: Liz Day A woman died from throat cancer after doctors initially believed her swallowing problems were caused by an eating disorder. Rosemary Young was 63 when she died five months after being admitted to hospital with depression following the suicide of her 33-year-old son Andrew Hillier. Sister Lynne Middleton said: “Her condition deteriorated dramatically until she could not swallow at all. She weighed 9st when she was admitted to hospital and less than 5st when she died. It was very distressing – every time we left the hospital, we were in turmoil.” Mrs Young, who lived in Blackwood and had two children and one grandchild, had complained of difficulty swallowing six weeks before she was admitted to the Ty Sirhowy mental health unit in September 2011. She had been due to see an ear, nose and throat specialist at the Royal Gwent Hospital, but missed the appointment due to her depression, prompting her family to ask for a referral during her admission. Mrs Middleton, who is a registered mental health nurse, said: “A week after she was admitted, I was very worried about her. She looked unkempt and was not eating, but the staff were adamant it was an eating disorder. “When they said it over and over again, I started to think they might be right, but it did not make any sense. My sister was a lady whose one joy in life was cooking. It was absolute nonsense. At dinner, they forced her to [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-10-10T10:06:41-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Differences in Imaging Characteristics of HPV-Positive and HPV-Negative Oropharyngeal Cancers: A Blinded Matched-Pair Analysis

Source: American Journal of Neuroradiology Please address correspondence to Dr Lawrence E. Ginsberg, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Unit 1482, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1400 Pressler St, Houston, TX 77030; e-mail: [email protected] Abstract BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Human papillomavirus–positive oropharyngeal cancers typically have younger age of onset, limited tobacco exposure, and more favorable prognosis than HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers. We assessed whether HPV-positive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers have consistent differences in pretreatment imaging characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 136 pretreatment CT examinations of paired HPV-positive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers matched for T stage, tumor subsite, and smoking status was performed with the reviewing radiologist blinded to HPV status and clinical stage. Demographic/clinical characteristics and imaging characteristics of primary lesions and metastatic nodal disease were compared by use of Fisher exact testing. The McNemar χ2 test was used for the matched-pair analysis. RESULTS: By imaging, HPV-negative tumors were more likely to demonstrate invasion of adjacent muscle (26% versus 6%, P = .013). HPV-positive primary tumors were more likely to be enhancing and exophytic with well-defined borders, whereas HPV-negative primary tumors were more likely to be isoattenuated and demonstrate ill-defined borders, though these results were not statistically significant. HPV-positive tumors were more likely to demonstrate cystic nodal metastases than HPV-negative tumors (36% versus 9%, P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: In this matched and blinded analysis of the imaging differences between HPV-positive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers, HPV-positive carcinomas often had primary lesions with well-defined borders and cystic nodal metastases, whereas HPV-negative [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-10-10T09:51:39-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Carcinoma of the oral tongue in patients younger than 30 years: Comparison with patients older than 60 years

Source: oraloncology.comPublished Online" 07 August 2013. Summary Objectives The incidence of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma is rising in young patients. This study evaluated the clinical, pathological, and prognostic characteristics of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma in the under-30-year age group. Materials and methods The computerized database of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of a tertiary, university-affiliated medical center was searched for all patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma treated by glossectomy with curative intent in 1996–2012. Data were collected by chart review. Results Of the 113 patients identified, 16 (14%) were aged ⩽30years at presentation and 62 (55%) >60years. Mean follow-up time was 30months. Comparison by age group revealed no sex predilection and no differences in histologic grade or rates of advanced T-stage, perineural and vascular invasion, or nodal extracapsular extension. Rates of node-positive disease were 75% in the younger group and 19% in the older group (p<0.001). Kaplan–Meier analysis yielded no between-group difference in disease-free or overall survival. Recurrence was documented in a similar proportion of patients (38% and 29.9%, respectively), but half the recurrences in the younger group were distant versus none in the older group (p=0.01) All younger patients with recurrent disease died within 16months of its appearance compared to 50% 3-year disease-specific survival in the older group. Conclusions Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma is more advanced at presentation in younger than in older patients, with higher rates of regional metastases and distant failure. Recurrent disease is more aggressive, with a fatality rate of [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-10-02T15:43:52-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Blood clots a risk after head, neck cancer surgery

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Salynn Boyles, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today Clinically relevant blood clots are common in head and neck cancer patients following surgery, and routine chemoproprophylaxis is warranted in post-surgical patients hospitalized for more than 72 hours, a prospective study has found. When the researchers followed 100 high-risk cancer patients for 30 days following surgery, they found that 13% developed venous thromboembolism (VTE), including seven who had deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and one with pulmonary embolism (PE). A total of 14% of the patients received postoperative anticoagulation therapy, and their rate of bleeding complications was 30% compared with 5.6% in patients who did not receive the therapy (P=0.01), Daniel R. Clayburgh, MD, PhD, of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, and colleagues wrote online Sept. 26 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. While the study was not powered to detect differences in risk factors among patients who did and did not develop VTEs, there was a trend in those with VTEs toward lower mean Karnofsky-Performance status scores (72 versus 79 in patients without them; P=0.09) and higher Caprini risk assessment scores (7.6 in VTE patients vs 6.9 in those who did not develop blood clots; P=0.09). These risk factors did not reach statistical significance. The VTE incidence reported by Clayburgh and colleagues was higher than has been suggested in retrospective studies of the general otolaryngology population, with one recent study finding an overall VTE rate of just 1.3%. The incidence is also higher than the OHSU research team's own [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-09-30T13:22:47-07:00September, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Prominent M.D. Anderson cancer doctor dies at 63

Source: Houston ChroniclePublished: June 22,2013By: Todd Ackerman OCF sadly reports the death of one of its founding board members and good friend, Dr. Kian Ang. Dr. Ang was Brian Hill's personal radiation oncologist when he was treated at MDACC for his oral cancer. The two developed a strong friendship over the years. Brian often refers to Dr. Ang as one of his most valued mentors in the treatment of oral cancers, and in critical thinking when reviewing scientific papers. He will be greatly missed as a strong contributor and advisor to OCF, having helped set its direction for many years. Dr. Kian Ang, a prominent cancer doctor who helped popularize the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center tradition of ringing a bell at the end of radiation treatment, died Wednesday. He was 63. Ang, who pioneered practice-changing treatment for head and neck cancers, succumbed to cancer at M.D. Anderson, surrounded by family. He was diagnosed recently with the disease. "Dr. Ang was the true triple threat - outstanding clinician, accomplished investigator and educator par excellence," said Dr. Randal Weber, chairman of head and neck surgery at M.D. Anderson. "He was the guy who could do it all, what many of us aspire to be but fall short of." Colleagues at the University of Texas cancer center said Ang's greatest achievements included pioneering work treating head and neck cancers with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy, particularly targeted therapies; and determining that cancers of the throat are more sensitive to treatment if caused by the [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-09-27T11:06:22-07:00September, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Eating, Swallowing Exercises May Aid Throat Cancer Patients

Source: US NewsPublished: September 19, 2013 Keeping up these activities during chemo or radiation linked to better diets after treatment, study finds THURSDAY, Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Throat cancer patients appear to benefit from continuing to eat and doing swallowing exercises while undergoing radiation treatment or chemotherapy, researchers say. Radiation treatment can interfere with a person's ability to swallow, but performing swallowing exercises can help patients prevent weakness that can occur after periods of not swallowing. The new study included nearly 500 patients treated for throat cancer between 2002 and 2008. Of the 58 percent of patients who followed swallowing exercises, 74 percent were able to maintain eating at the end of their treatment, the investigators found. In addition, eating and doing swallowing exercises during the treatment period were linked to better long-term diets after treatment ended and less time relying on a feeding tube, according to the study, which was published online Sept. 19 in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery. Long-term swallowing outcomes were best in patients who continued eating throughout radiation treatment or chemotherapy and followed their swallowing-exercise regimen, said Katherine Hutcheson, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues. Outcomes were worst in patients who did not eat or do swallowing exercises. Nearly 14,000 new cases of throat cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year, the study authors said in a journal news release. * This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-09-20T15:02:52-07:00September, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

How fatty acids aids cancer prevention

Source: www.ngrguardiannews.com Author: staff Omega-3 fatty acids, contained in oily fish such as salmon and trout, selectively inhibit growth and induce cell death in early and late-stage oral and skin cancers, according to new research from scientists at Queen Mary, University of London. In vitro tests showed omega-3 fatty acids induced cell death in malignant and pre-malignant cells at doses which did not affect normal cells, suggesting they have the potential to be used in both the treatment and prevention of certain skin and oral cancers. Humans cannot make omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in large quantities and so we must acquire them from our diet. The scientists were studying a particular type of cancer called squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC). Squamous cells are the main part of the outermost layers of the skin, and SCC is one of the major forms of skin cancer. However, squamous cells also occur in the lining of the digestive tract, lungs, and other areas of the body. Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) are the sixth most common cancer worldwide and are difficult and very expensive to treat. In the experiments, the scientists grew cell cultures in the lab from several different cells lines to which they added fatty acids. The cell lines included both malignant oral and skin SCCs, along with pre-malignant cells and normal skin and oral cells. Professor Kenneth Parkinson, head of the Oral Cancer Research Group at Queen Mary’s Institute of Dentistry, said: “We found that the omega-3 fatty acid selectively inhibited the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-09-19T13:40:24-07:00September, 2013|Oral Cancer News|