Oral Cancer News – Page 15 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

A strange anomaly on scans turned out to be an entirely new organ, hidden within your face

Source: www.iflscience.com Author: James Felton, Senior Staff Writer Image Credit: Valstar et al., Radiotherapy and Oncology, 2020 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) You'd think after centuries of cracking open humans and taking a poke around inside we'd have discovered every organ there is to be found in there, but you'd be wrong. In fact, they seem to be popping up all the time. In 2018, researchers discovered the largest organ in the body, interconnected fluid-filled sacs that run through the collagen and elastin structures in the areas beneath our skin and between other organs and tissues in our bodies. Well, wouldn't you know it, scientists have just found another new organ inside us. It's getting pretty crowded in here. Oncologists at the Netherlands Cancer Institute were using a new kind of scan as part of their research into patients with head and neck cancer. They used positron emission tomography/computed tomography with prostate-specific membrane antigen ligands (PSMA PET/CT) scans, which have been shown to be an effective way of tracking the spread of prostate cancer around the body. Patients are injected with radioactive glucose before the scan, which highlights tumors within the patient by glowing brightly. While using this scan on patients, however, the team noticed two areas in the head unexpectedly lit up. As they kept scanning patients, they kept finding the same area lighting up. It turned out all 100 people scanned had bright spots. It wasn't an anomaly, it was potentially an entirely new organ. The new discovery, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-29T16:44:33-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

One-day jaw reconstruction: George’s story

Source: www.roswellpark.org Author: staff When a toothache turned out to be cancer, George quickly learned the state-of-the-art treatment he needed was right here in Buffalo, NY. Buffalo born-and-bred George Hofheins is happy with his “new” life and looking forward to becoming a Florida snowbird. On October 20, he marked the first anniversary of having his jaw replaced, in an innovative One-Day Jaw Reconstruction surgical procedure now offered at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as a definitive treatment for oral cancer. “My life is good again. I’m thrilled that I’m living it the way I am,” he says. “The one-day surgery was what really convinced me to go with Roswell Park and I was very impressed with the teamwork and the people and the results.” Before the surgery, George had been healthy all of his 75 years, except for a few glitches he says were mostly minor and fixable: “I pride myself on exercising regularly, keeping a more-or-less healthy diet, maintaining a proper weight give or take a few pounds, and not indulging in any seriously bad habits, unless you count a glass of wine with dinner or an occasional martini.” But in June 2021, when he got a toothache and thought it might be an impacted wisdom tooth, George went to see his dentist. His dentist looked at the troublesome tooth and decided to refer George to an endodontist, who extracted the aching molar. George thought that was that. “A few months later the gum socket had not healed. So [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-29T16:36:18-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Race can affect outcomes in head-and-neck cancers

Source: www.usnews.com Author: Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter Black patients with head-and-neck cancers have twice the death rates of white patients, and a new study suggests race itself underlies those differences. “What is unique about our study is it strongly supports the conclusion that black patients seem to respond to therapy differently than white patients,” said study author Dr. Jeffrey Liu. He is an associate professor in the division of head and neck surgery at Fox Chase Cancer Center and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, in Philadelphia. Past research has found that factors such as economic status and access to health care also contribute to these issues. For this study, the researchers used data from a clinical trial by the nonprofit Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Patients in such a trial are by design similar for factors such as age, health status and cancer stage. Once enrolled, they also receive largely the same cancer care, which is not true in the general population where access and quality of care can vary. For this study, 468 black head-and-neck cancer patients were compared with white patients who received the same treatment. While researchers expected similar outcomes for both groups, in 60% of the matched pairs, white patients had better survival than black patients, the study found. “Using self-reported race, we see a difference in how these groups respond to the same treatment,” Liu said in a cancer center news release. Race is a social construct rather than biological, he noted, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-19T11:19:56-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

University Medical Center Groningen treats first cancer patient with stem cells from his own salivary gland

Source: www.taylordailypress.net Author: Braeden Haige On Thursday December 15, the surgery on Casper van den Noort (43 years old) was the first of its kind in the Netherlands and may have been the first to obtain his own cells from cultured miniature salivary glands (organelles) after many years of research. The stem cell transplant should ensure that van den Noort will no longer suffer from dry mouth as a result of his treatment for tongue tumor. Van den Noort spoke of a private moment. “The injections were a little sensitive. I am of course very curious to see what happens next, and whether this will have the intended effect. It would be really nice if that salivary gland could start working again.” Low quality of life In the Netherlands there are around 2,500 new patients each year with a tumor in the head and neck region. Many of these patients have a good chance of recovery after radiation. A serious complication is that in 40 percent of patients, the salivary glands no longer function properly after treatment. As a result, patients constantly suffer from dry mouth. Chewing and swallowing is difficult, sense of taste is reduced, speech is very difficult, and teeth are damaged. As a result, these patients often experience a significantly reduced quality of life. A tumor on the tongue was found earlier this year in Van den Noort. During his operation at UMCG, part of his salivary glands were removed. “We’ve grown stem cells from this in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-19T11:13:28-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Biosensor allows rapid detection of oral cancer

Source: www.insideprecisionmedicine.com Author: staff A biosensor for oral cancer has been developed by researchers from the University of Florida and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The device uses a rapid transistor-based system and is much faster and more convenient than current lab-based tests. Their study was published in Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B. “Oral squamous cell carcinomas are one of the most common lip and oral cavity cancer types,” said Minghan Xian, co-author and a researcher at the University of Florida. “It requires early detection via various medical technologies to improve the survival rate.” Oral cancers are the 16th most common type of cancer. Cancers of the lip and oral cavity are the most common, with more than 377,700 cases worldwide in 2020, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International. Since oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) occurs in one of the most accessible sites in the body, it can be easily treated if detected promptly. Oral cancers that remain localized and are 2 centimeters or smaller can be cured — five-year survival rates exceed 90%. “The standard of care for oral cancer detection is a biopsy, which is invasive, expensive and takes several weeks to obtain results. Since our sensor is a true point of care, we envision this technology to offer chairside assistance to dentists on whether or not a biopsy is warranted,” Co-author Josephine Esquivel-Upshaw, professor at the University of Florida College of Dentistry, told Inside Precision Medicine. Biosensors have long been [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-15T13:31:19-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Scents and sense-abilities: using bug brainpower to smell cancer

Source: www.the-scientist.com Author: Iris Kulbatski, PhD There are millions of sensory worlds that humans cannot perceive. Fathoming what it is like to be a wild thing is beyond the limited resolution of human senses. For example, insects live in a world of smell, decoding the subtle chemical nuances of scent that waft across their antennae. In the case of locusts—the migratory swarming form of certain asocial grasshoppers—their sense of smell is intimately tied to their physical and communal transformation. Certain environmental conditions trigger locusts to molt and secrete pheromones that attract more locusts.1,2 After shedding their old body and solitary existence, billions of locusts aggregate in devastating swarms that eclipse the sun and plague humans. This dramatic body and lifestyle makeover depends on their exquisite ability to detect and differentiate subtle odors.3 Recently, Debajit Saha, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan State University, and his team tapped into the odor-sensing circuitry of the locust brain to detect the scent signatures of human oral cancers. Saha previously used locusts for sniffing out bombs,4 making the transition to cancer detection an interesting one. “Cancer changes [cellular] metabolism and those changes are reflected in exhaled breath,” Saha said. Known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), these unique chemical signatures are promising biomarkers of disease—if scientists can detect them. Other researchers are engineering artificial sensors—also known as electronic noses—to identify cancer, but their sensitivity, specificity, and speed are still limited compared to creatures that inhabit a sensory landscape of smell. Saha’s team is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-13T09:10:26-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Why Big Tobacco’s attempts to rehabilitate its image are so dangerous

Source: theconversation.com Author: staff In September, Imperial Tobacco Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco, was awarded the “Great Place to Work” certification, one of the leading authorities on workplace culture. Since then, Imperial Tobacco Canada representatives have met with graduate students across the country, including at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, York University’s Schulich School of Business and McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, urging students to “come join us as we build a better tomorrow.” As of May 2022, Imperial Tobacco Canada was listed as a Presidents’ Circle Member on the University of Toronto website, to acknowledge their “vital financial support at the leadership level.” Despite Big Tobacco’s efforts to renormalize itself, we should all be very wary of engaging with the self-described “Bold, Fast, Empowered” corporate culture. Suppressing incriminating evidence British American Tobacco and other big tobacco companies have known about the clear links between smoking and a host of diseases, including cancer, since at least the 1950s. Despite this, they did not disclose their internal damning evidence. Instead, they aggressively undermined mounting scientific evidence of the public health risks associated with their products through a sophisticated array of deceitful strategies and tactics. These included funding dubious research, relying on allies that did not disclose their links to the industry, along with other forms of aggressive lobbying and marketing. Fast forward 70 years, and tobacco remains the leading cause of cancer worldwide today. Epidemiologist Prabhat Jha estimates that one death results from each [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-05T08:30:51-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Time for warnings on alcohol

Source: www.wellandtribune.ca Author: Star Editorial Board What if you were to learn that a product you've consumed for years is associated with serious health effects, including cancer? You’d probably approach your federal and provincial representatives and ask them to investigate why those in the know failed to warn you of the danger. As it happens, it isn't hypothetical. The product is alcohol, whose carcinogenic effect has been evident since at least 1910, when a medical journal reported a relationship between alcohol misuse and esophageal and stomach cancers. More than a century later, most Canadians are still unaware of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer: According to a Canadian Cancer Society survey, only 28 per cent of Ontarians are aware of the relationship, largely because the message hasn’t been posted where people are likely to see it. Yet the risks are real. The Canadian Cancer Society says that drinking alcohol raises the risk of developing head and neck, breast, stomach, pancreatic, liver and colorectal cancers. Their message: “The less alcohol you drink, the more you reduce your risk.” There's a simple way to inform Canadians, and it doesn't require that they peruse some dusty old medical journal. All they should need to do is look at a bottle of booze to discover the association between alcohol and cancer, as well as ways to avoid negative health effects by following low-risk drinking guidelines. Canadians are, after all, intimately familiar with warning labels on everything from food to sporting equipment to toys. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-05T08:15:21-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Very few Americans know drinking alcohol increases cancer risk, study finds

Source: www.yahoo.com Author: Linda Carroll Despite conclusive research showing that all alcoholic beverages, including wine, increase the risk of many types of cancer, a survey of nearly 4,000 U.S. adults found that less than a third knew that alcohol consumption was a risk factor for cancer. Even fewer, just over 20%, realized that drinking wine could raise the risk of cancer, according to the report published Thursday in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. The new findings show that “most Americans don’t know that alcohol is a leading modifiable risk factor for cancer,” Andrew Seidenberg, Ph.D., who was a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute when the research was conducted, tells TODAY.com. “All alcoholic beverages increase cancer risk, but there are variations in awareness by the beverage type, with wine being the lowest. In fact, 10% of U.S. adults incorrectly believe that wine decreases cancer risk.” Unfortunately, the link hasn’t gotten much attention in the media, says Seidenberg, who is now research director at Truth Initiative, a nonprofit public health organization. A 2021 study found that alcohol consumption accounted for 75,199 cancer cases and 18,947 cancer deaths annually in the U.S. Other research has linked alcohol consumption to several types of cancer, including cancers of the breast, mouth and colon. Most Americans drink, and Seidenberg wonders if some would choose to cut back if they understood the link with cancer. In 2019, 54.9% (59.1% of men, 51% of women) reported drinking in the past month, with 25.8% (29.7% of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-03T08:04:58-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Stanley Tucci was “like a ghost in [his] own house” when he had cancer

Source: home.nzcity.co.nz Author: staff The 62-year-old actor - who has three adult children with late first wife Kathryn Spath and Matteo, seven, and Emilia, four, with wife Felicity Blunt - was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2017 and he admitted he reached a period where he "didn't see the point of living" if he would no longer be able to enjoy the pleasure of enjoying a meal with his loved ones again He said: "I was a cranky patient. Because I was miserable. I thought it was never going to go away. And I was like, how did this happen... "There were times when I thought I was never going to be able to eat with my family again. The things I love to do are eat and taste and drink. And I love to do them with the people I love. "If I can't do that, then I really don't see the point of living. "I spent months and months up in my room, listening to everybody. Like a ghost in my own house. People coming and going. And I would go down and I would cook, but I couldn't eat it - but I'd want to cook. "Sometimes it almost made me ill to do it, but I wanted to do it. It was pretty f****** awful." The 'Supernova' star has since gone into remission but there are still some foods and drinks he can't enjoy the way he used to. He told You magazine: "Since I wrote [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-11-30T21:38:56-07:00November, 2022|Oral Cancer News|