Oral Cancer News – Page 168 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

CD4 counts predict chemo response in laryngeal cancer

Source: www.oncologyreport.com/ Author: Miriam E. Tucker Pretreatment CD4 levels predicted response to induction chemotherapy among 97 patients with advanced laryngeal cancer, but not for 66 patients with advanced oropharyngeal cancer, according to a retrospective analysis of data from two clinical trials. The two groups of head and neck cancer patients were enrolled in two identical prospective, phase II trials of induction chemotherapy and organ preservation, in which tumor response after one cycle of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil was used to select those who would undergo surgery or definitive chemoradiation (J. Clin. Oncol. 2006;24:593-8 in laryngeal cancer; J. Clin. Oncol. 2008;26:3138-46 in oropharyngeal cancer). Several lymphocyte subsets were measured before treatment via routine flow cytometry in peripheral blood in the laryngeal cancer patients, but only CD4 (helper cell) levels were significantly associated with chemotherapy response. Both absolute CD4 counts and CD4 percentages were higher among induction chemotherapy responders than nonresponders (P = .006 and P = .04, respectively). Investigators also saw a trend for responders to have an increased percentage of CD3 cells (P = .13), decreased percentage of CD8 cells (P = .11), and higher CD4/CD8 ratios. "Host immune parameters are important factors in treatment outcome, and may be useful in identifying subsets of patients with cancers that are responsive to organ-preserving therapy," said Dr. Gregory T. Wolf, who presented the data at a head and neck cancer symposium sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology. "It is likely that immunobiology of head and neck cancers differ significantly by tumor [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-26T09:53:59-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Radiotherapy technique significantly reduces irradiation of healthy tissue

Source: www.sciencecodex.com/ Author: staff Researchers at the University of Granada and the university hospital Virgen de las Nieves in Granada have developed a new radiotherapy technique that is much less toxic than that traditionally used and only targets cancerous tissue. This new protocol provides a less invasive but equally efficient cancer postoperative treatment for cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx. The study -conducted between 2005 and 2008- included 80 patients diagnosed with epidermoid cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, who had undergone lymph node removal. The affected nodes were located by the surgeon during the intervention and classified into different risk levels. Classification allowed physicians to target the areas at a higher risk of recurrence. This way, neck areas at a lower risk of containing residual cancer cells were not irradiated. Researchers achieved both to minimize the side effects of radiotherapy, and to reduce treatment discontinuation, thus achieving the therapy to be more effective. A Highly Toxic Treatment Over 70% of oral and pharynx cancer treated with surgery require supplementary treatment with radiotherapy occasionally associated to chemotherapy, because of the high risk for recurrence and spread through the lymph nodes. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are highly toxic, mainly due to the ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the oral cavity; toxicity leads may patients to stop the treatment, which significantly reduces the chances of cure. By using the risk map obtained with the collaboration of the surgeon and the pathologist, an individualized treatment was designed and adapted [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-26T09:44:04-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer patients who smoke report worse pain, symptoms

Source: www.medscape.com/ Author: Kate Johnson Cancer patients who smoke experience more severe symptoms than nonsmoking cancer patients and are also at greater risk of misusing opioids, a new study shows. "Our findings show a profile of higher levels of physical symptoms (pain, fatigue, poor appetite, and insomnia) and psychological symptoms (depression and anxiety) among smokers than non-smokers," report Diane Novy, PhD, from the Pain Management Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and colleagues. The findings underscore the importance of smoking cessation for this patient population, she told Medscape Medical News, even though it's unclear if there is a causal effect. "We don't know the cause. They may smoke more because of the pain," she said in an interview. However, studies also show that smoking has been known to increase certain types of pain such as back pain, and nerve pain, she added. "If we can motivate them to stop smoking, I think they're better off." The findings were presented here at the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) 28th Annual Meeting. Pain, Fatigue, Insomnia The study included 486 cancer patients (52% female), with a mean age of 55 years, who were referred to the Pain Management Center for uncontrolled pain. Ninety-four patients were smokers, and the rest (n = 356), classified as nonsmokers, were former smokers or never-smokers. The patients were diagnosed with a wide range of cancers, the most common being gastrointestinal (18.5%), followed by hematologic (15%) and head and neck cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-26T09:23:53-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

UPDATE 1-Swedish Match pushes ahead with snus in the U.S

Source: Reuters.com STOCKHOLM, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Tobacco products group Swedish Match will step up promotion of moist Swedish-style snuff, called snus, in the United States this year where it expect the market to grow faster than its Scandinavian home territory. Snus, a tobacco product put under the lip and sucked, mostly in pouches, is the group's main cash cow, sold mainly in Scandinavia. Swedish Match wants to differentiate itself in the larger U.S. market by growing sales of snus, which is pasteurized and has a different texture and taste to fermented U.S.-style snuff. "During 2012, we will continue to invest for growth. In the U.S. we will expand distribution and invest further in marketing activities ...," said Swedish Match, which is the largest producer of snus in Sweden. The product is banned in the rest of the European Union. Swedish Match, a rival to Altria Group Inc, Reynolds American Inc and BAT., also makes cigars. Marketing costs for snus in the U.S. weighed on fourth-quarter profit, the group said on Wednesday. Operating profit fell to 1.02 billion crowns ($153.6 million) from a year-earlier 1.42 billion, against a mean forecast for 1.03 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts. It said significantly higher international snus investments weighed on the profit margin for snuff and snus, which make up more than half of profit. The margin fell to 45.9 percent from 48.1 percent, well below a forecast for 47.6 percent. As well as aiming at the U.S. market, its venture with [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-24T10:27:50-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Timing of Post-TX Imaging Key in Head, Neck Cancer

Source: MedScape Today Summary The investigators report on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 51 studies involving 2335 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who underwent post-treatment or surveillance with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET or FDG-PET/CT. The random-effects model-weighted mean pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for detection of residual disease at the primary tumor site were 79.9% (95% CI, 73.7%-85.2%), 87.5% (95% CI, 85.2%-89.5%), 58.6% (95% CI, 52.6%-64.5%), and 95.1% (95% CI, 93.5%-96.5%), respectively. The respective values for detection of residual post-treatment neck nodes were 72.7% (95% CI, 66.6%-78.2%), 87.6% (95% CI, 85.7%-89.3%), 52.1% (95% CI, 46.6%-57.6%), and 94.5% (95% CI, 93.1%-95.7%). In a subgroup analysis on timing of PET after completion of therapy, scans performed after 12 weeks had significantly higher diagnostic performance than scans done within 12 weeks, but only for residual neck nodes and not for residual disease at the primary tumor site. No statistically significant difference in diagnostic accuracy was noted between stand-alone PET and PET/CT. Viewpoint Well-performed systematic reviews and meta-analyses are important contributions to the literature.[1] In this meta-analysis, the diagnostic performance of dedicated PET and PET/CT with FDG was investigated by pooling the data from a relatively large cohort of patients with head and neck cancer who had been treated with chemoradiation. The pooled evidence demonstrated good diagnostic performance for FDG-PET and FDG-PET/CT, regardless of the type of scanner, with very high NPV but somewhat suboptimal PPV; this is due to the nonspecificity of FDG, [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-22T09:47:08-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Post-transplant head and neck tumors tallied

Source: www.familypracticenews.com Author: Damian McNamara, Family Practice News Digital Network Patients who have undergone solid organ transplantation are at greater risk for subsequent tumor development, and head and neck cancers can be particularly aggressive, according to results of a single-institution study. Dr. Robert H. Deeb and his associates at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit studied 3,639 patients who underwent solid organ transplantation between January 1990 and December 2011. By retrospectively searching electronic medical records, they identified 95 people who developed cutaneous, salivary gland, or mucosal malignancies. They found a 2.1% incidence of cutaneous cancers and a 0.5% incidence of noncutaneous head and neck cancers in this population. Despite a relatively low overall 2.6% incidence, there are reasons for concern, Dr. Deeb said at the Triological Society’s Combined Sections Meeting, which was jointly sponsored by the Triological Society and the American College of Surgeons. When cutaneous cancers did occur, they were more aggressive and were associated with shorter 1-year survival rates. Henry Ford Transplant Institute maintains a noncutaneous tumor registry. This allowed the researchers to compare survival and other factors. Compared with the "nontransplant tumor registry in our institution, we found significantly fewer patients were alive at 1 year," Dr. Deeb said. Specifically, 55% of posttransplant patients with these cancers survived to 1 year, compared with 81% of nontransplant patients. There were no significant differences between groups in terms of age, sex, stage at diagnosis, or 5-year survival. More than half (52%) of the patients who developed skin cancers had multiple [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-19T11:10:20-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

To see or not to see

Source: http://www.rdhmag.com/ Author: JoAnn R. Gurenlian From the National Journal fro Dental Hygiene Professionals: Allow me to relay the experience of a patient who has been through trying times lately. The patient is a middle-age female who noticed a small, firm swelling in the right submandibular region. She had never experienced this type of problem before, but since she had an upcoming visit with her family physician, she thought she would mention it. Her family provider told her it appeared to be a swollen lymph node and recommended she schedule an appointment with her dentist in the event that she had an oral infection. Being conscientious about health issues, this patient did have an examination with her dentist. He advised her that it was a swollen lymph node, but that there were no apparent oral health infections. He reviewed causes of swollen lymph nodes and felt that since she was asymptomatic; the node simply represented residual effects from a cold or allergy condition. Over the course of the next year, this patient presented on several occasions to both her family physician and dentist with concerns that the lymph node was getting larger. Both health care providers told her to “forget about it,” or “it was nothing.” She felt uncertain about both individuals at this point, but since they seemed to be in agreement that her condition “was nothing,” she heeded their advice. After several more months and with ever growing concern, the patient presented to her dentist again for further [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-19T11:00:56-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Berry Nutrition

Source: www.foodproductdesign.com Author: Marie Spano, M.S., R.D., Contributing Editor Nutritionally speaking, good things come in sweet—and tart—little packages. Research is discovering berries pack a nutritional punch due to their vitamin, fiber and antioxidant content. Botanically speaking, berries are indehiscent fruits (they don’t need to be opened to release their seeds) that ripen through the ovary wall. However, any small, edible fruit with multiple seeds is typically considered a berry. In addition to lending flavor and brilliant colors to a wide variety of dishes, all berries are packed with an array of antioxidants, nutrients and potential health benefits. Berries that are especially antioxidant-rich include fresh crowberries, bilberries, black currants, wild strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, goji berries, sea buckthorn, blueberries and cranberries. However, the antioxidant content of berries varies based on the geographical growing condition. And, while fresh berries are an excellent source of antioxidants, total phenol content drops during processing. In fact, processed berry jams and syrup contain approximately half the antioxidant capacity of fresh berries, and juices show the greatest loss of anthocyanins and tannins due to the removal of seeds and skin (Nutrition Journal, 2010; 9:3; Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Jan 13, 2012). Botanical berries Shiny, scarlet-colored cranberries are rich in vitamin C, loaded with antioxidants, including flavonoids, and score higher in their ORAC score than many other fruits ("Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of Selected Foods—2007", USDA ARS). Cranberries are perhaps best known for the role their juice plays in the prevention of urinary tract infections (UTI) [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-19T10:53:06-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Use of carbon nanoparticles paves way to customized cancer therapy

Source: www.azonano.com Author: Cameron Chai A research study by Jeffrey Myers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and James Tour from the Rice University has reported that a combination of carbon nanoparticles and existing drugs has the capability to improve head-and-neck cancer treatment, particularly when coupled with radiation therapy. The novel technique encapsulates chemotherapeutic drugs using carbon nanoparticles, which sequester the drugs until their delivery into the targeted cancer cells, opening the door to develop customized therapies based on the requirements of individual patients. The researchers have developed a simple technique to mix Cetuximab, a targeting agent, and paclitaxel, a hydrophobic active chemotherapy agent marketed as Taxol, with hydrophilic carbon clusters that are functionalized with polyethylene glycol or PEG-HCC. According to the researchers, Cetuximab, paclitaxel and PEG-HCC ingredients combine easily and form a water-soluble compound that targets tumors more effectively than Taxol, while eliminating the toxic effects of Cremophor EL and paclitaxel on neighboring healthy cells. Cremophor EL is a carrier based on castor oil that makes the hydrophobic paclitaxel into a water-soluble compound and delivers it to patients intravenously. Tour commented that the novel technique utilizes a very small quantity of chemotherapy drug. Myers informed that tests involving the use of Cetuximab, paclitaxel and PEG-HCC ingredients and radiation therapy on mice demonstrated a substantial increase in destroying tumors. The researchers’ hypothesis is paclitaxel detects the tumor cells to the radiation effects and Cetuximab and PEG-HCC augment the delivery of paclitaxel into the cancer cells, Myers [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-19T10:42:23-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

HPV and on HPV oral cancers need to be treated differently to reduce toxicity and improve out comes in each type

The National Cancer Institute In a large randomized European clinical trial, accelerated radiation therapy for locally advanced, inoperable head and neck cancer—given either with or without chemotherapy—did not prolong the time to disease progression compared with standard radiation therapy plus concurrent chemotherapy, which has been the standard of care in Europe and the United States. Results from the study were published online January 18 in Lancet Oncology. Another trial published in 2010, by the U.S. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), showed similar results, but the two research teams have drawn different conclusions, which will affect ongoing clinical trials and, potentially, future research collaborations. The researchers, from the European Groupe d'Oncologie Radiothérapie Tête et Cou (GORTEC), compared two experimental regimens with standard chemoradiotherapy in the trial, called GORTEC 99-02. All participating patients had stage III or stage IV head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma that had not metastasized but that could not be removed surgically. The 244 patients in the conventional chemoradiotherapy arm received three cycles of chemotherapy with the drugs carboplatin and fluorouracil plus 70 Gy of radiation given over the standard 7 weeks. In one experimental arm, 245 patients received "accelerated chemoradiotherapy," which consisted of two cycles of the same chemotherapy drugs plus radiation therapy accelerated by 1 week. In the second experimental arm, 242 patients received only "very accelerated" radiation therapy, which consisted of a total dose of 64.8 Gy given over 3.5 weeks. The GORTEC trial results are somewhat difficult to interpret because the trial "didn't change just one variable, it changed two—in addition to the radiation regimen, it also changed the chemotherapy," explained Dr. Bhadrasain [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-16T15:19:01-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|