Oral Cancer News – Page 237 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

A year later, the tobacco war still isn’t won

Source: www.mercurynews.com Author: Patty Fisher A year ago this week, I was celebrating with health advocates across the country when they won their 20-year battle to get the federal government to regulate dumb and deadly cigarettes. I can't believe it took that long to convince Congress that nicotine, the powerful addictive drug in tobacco, should be treated like any other drug sold to the public. After years of marketing cancer sticks to kids and denying that they manipulated the amount of nicotine in their products to hook smokers, shameless tobacco companies at last had to answer to the Food and Drug Administration. They were given a year to stop their clever tricks such as making candy-flavored smokes and using labels like "light" and "low-tar" to make cigarettes sound less harmful. On Tuesday, the new rules will take effect. But those devoted to the anti-smoking cause know the toxic battles are far from over. With a $12.8 billion marketing budget, tobacco companies will find subtle new ways to attract new smokers. "They are always just one step ahead of us," said Margo Sidener of Breathe California. "The tobacco companies have the best advertising people in the world, unfortunately." Smoking on the screen It doesn't help that cigarette makers get lots of free advertising in movies and on TV. When Sigourney Weaver infamously puffed on a cigarette in "Avatar," it wasn't just a ridiculous endorsement of smoking for the most massive worldwide audience of children and adults ever. Worse, it made no [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-21T19:31:00-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Hundreds of Chattanooga residents join together to support oral cancer survivor and raise awareness

Source: The Oral Cancer Foundation Author: Staff Chattanooga Walk Promotes Early Detection of Oral Cancer NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., June 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recently, oral cancer survivor Jeanna Richelson, organized the first Chattanooga Oral Cancer Awareness Walk, which raised donations for the Oral Cancer Foundation, and much needed awareness of a disease that too few Americans know about. According to the foundation's executive director Brian Hill, "I don't believe there has ever been an oral cancer walk that was this successful in its first year. This was an absolutely amazing effort by Jeanna and those who helped her make this possible." Unlike other cancers we commonly hear about, oral cancer is a disease the majority of the public has heard little about, even though it has one of the highest death rates. Even with famous people who have passed away from this disease such as, Babe Ruth, Sigmund Freud, and George Harrison, it still receives little attention. While walks have become commonplace in many other diseases, raising awareness is no longer part of their function. By having a walk to raise awareness of oral cancer, it also raises awareness of risk factors that people might avoid, encourages simple inexpensive annual screenings, which will in turn reduce the death rate. Jamie O'Day, the treatment facilities coordinator for OCF commented, "This is a disease that in its early stages of development does not always produce symptoms that people might notice. Because of the insidious nature of oral cancer, annual screenings are essential to finding it as precancerous tissue changes, [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-21T19:24:56-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Coffee might guard against head, neck cancers

Source: www.businessweek.com Author: Robert Preidt Coffee may help protect against head and neck cancers, a new review finds. Researchers analyzed nine studies collected by the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium. They found that regular coffee drinkers (four or more cups a day) were 39 percent less likely to develop oral and pharynx cancers than people who didn't drink coffee. "Since coffee is so widely used and there is a relatively high incidence and low survival rate of these forms of cancers, our results have important public health implications that need to be further addressed," lead researcher Mia Hashibe, an assistant professor in the department of family and preventive medicine at the University of Utah, said in an American Association for Cancer Research news release. "What makes our results so unique is that we had a very large sample size, and since we combined data across many studies, we had more statistical power to detect associations between cancer and coffee," she added. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. A number of recent studies have suggested that coffee may help prevent cancers, including prostate cancer and brain tumors.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-20T08:53:43-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Varian Medical Systems: Head & neck cancer patient in Switzerland becomes world’s first UNIQUE radiotherapy patient

Source: www.tradingmarkets.com Author: press release A 55-year-old female head & neck cancer patient has become the first person in the world to be treated clinically using a new, advanced radiotherapy delivery device from Varian Medical Systems. Clinicians in Switzerland carried out the treatment this week using a UNIQUE(tm) single energy medical linear accelerator to deliver fast and precise RapidArc(r) radiotherapy, the leading solution for arc-based treatments. The treatment took place at the Istituto Oncologico della Svizzera Italiana (IOSI) radiation oncology unit here in Bellinzona, a public comprehensive cancer center serving 330,000 inhabitants in southern Switzerland, and part of Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale at San Giovanni Hospital. Varian's new UNIQUE treatment unit, a cost effective single energy (6 MV) system with the ability to deliver advanced treatments such as RapidArc, has been introduced by Varian to help bring advanced cancer care to more patients. "The UNIQUE system is an important asset in the clinical portfolio of the center in order to offer the best level of cancer care to all patients in the region," says Dr. Michele Morisoli, Director of San Giovanni hospital. "UNIQUE is a very capable machine that will enable us to treat most of our patients with a very advanced technique," says Dr. Antonella Fogliata, head medical physicist at IOSI. "RapidArc offers our patients a high standard of treatment delivery and less time spent on the treatment couch, which helps to keep discomfort t to a minimum. On the technical side we are really pleased with the performance and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-20T08:50:11-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers: B6 may cut cancer risk for smokers by 50%

Source: allyoucanreadbusiness.com Author: staff People who smoke and have a high level of vitamin B6 and other essential proteins and vitamins in their body will cut their chance of contracting lung cancer by fifty percent. According to a study by scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cigarette smoking causes many kinds of diseases like heart attack, throat cancer and so on. However, the major disease caused by smoking is lung cancer.This disease is very common and is seen in non-smokers. Deficiency in vitamin B6 and methionine is the major cause for lung cancer. Over 1.2 million people fatally fall victim to lung cancer every year. Vitamin B6 is very prevalent in vegetables, meat, nuts, and other high protein nutrient foods. Thus, taking in more vitamins and proteins daily will lessen the chance for smokers to develop lung cancer. Eighty percent of all lung cancer diagnoses are related to smoking cigarettes.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-19T12:30:56-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Quality of life of patients with tongue cancer 1 year after surgery

Source: www.joms.org Authors: Zhao-hui Yang et al. Purpose: To study the changes and factors affecting the quality of life (QOL) of patients with tongue cancer 1 year after primary surgery. Patients and Methods: A total of 289 consecutive patients with tongue cancer who had undergone primary surgery from 2003 to 2008 at our hospital were recruited. Patient QOL was evaluated using the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire, version 4. Statistical analysis was conducted using a paired-samples t test and multiple stepwise linear regression with Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 11.5 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). Results: At 1 year after surgery, the appearance, activity, speech, swallowing, shoulder function, salivary, and taste domain scores were significantly lower than the preoperative scores (P

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-19T09:25:36-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Combining surgery for removal of tissue and reconstruction

Source: MedicalNewToday Author: Staff Restoring people's health and returning them to their daily lives as soon as possible is the goal following any surgery. When a person's ability to eat and speak is affected, as with cancer in the mouth, surgery is particularly disruptive, creating a greater challenge. A one-step surgery can remove cancerous tissue and reconstruct bone and teeth functionality immediately, positively impacting the patient's quality of life. A case study in the June issue of the Journal of Oral Implantology describes a one-step surgery performed on a 65-year-old woman with squamous cell carcinoma. A two-year follow-up of this patient showed the one-step procedure to be successful. Typically, ablative surgery is first performed to remove cancerous bone and tissue. The surgery is followed by radiotherapy, and often tooth loss. Reconstructing the jaw and placing a dental implant at this point are taxing due to the side effects of radiotherapy and poor patient tolerance. The procedure outlined in this article permitted an impression to be taken immediately after the jaw reconstruction and implant installation during the initial surgery. A rigid prosthesis was fabricated and screw-secured to the implants 48 hours later. Complementary radiotherapy began six weeks following the surgery and implant. The prosthesis was modified as necessary six months after completion of the radiotherapy. The advantages of single surgery include a reduced risk of osteonecrosis-disease in the jawbone-which can occur with postradiation surgery. A single surgery also can decrease the need for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The authors emphasize that this one-step surgery is [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-18T19:07:35-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

New guidelines emphasize the need for cancer patients to exercise

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Roxanne Nelson In contrast to past advice to cancer patients to rest and avoid activity, the message now is to avoid inactivity. An expert panel convened by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has concluded that exercise training is safe during and after cancer treatments and can improve physical functioning, quality of life, and cancer-related fatigue. The new ACSM guidelines urge cancer patients to be as physically active as possible both during and after treatment. "The take-home message from the panel that put together the guidelines is to avoid inactivity during and posttreatment," said Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She presented the guidelines here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2010 Annual Meeting. "Dozens of randomized controlled trials in a broad variety of patient populations have established the safety of exercise during treatment and the ability to go from being sedentary to completing 150 minutes of aerobic active over the course of even a single month," she said. "The risk–benefit leans heavily in the direction of getting patients moving and keeping them moving." Exercise Oncology Exercise is an area that is gaining an increasing awareness in the cancer literature, noted Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, who moderated the session where the guidelines were presented. Dr. Ligibel is from the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, Massachusetts. "If you had done a search between 1950 and 1979 using the words 'exercise/physical activity' and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-18T08:17:43-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Sharp rise in HPV-related oropharyngeal carcinoma — a legacy of the “sexual revolution”?

Source: MedScape Author: Zosia Chustecka March 30, 2010 — The incidence of oropharyngeal carcinoma related to human papillomavirus (HPV) has been increasing in recent years, and there is speculation that this is the result of the "sexual revolution" of the 1960s. This increase in the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer has important public health implications, British experts warn in an editorial published online March 25 in the British Medical Journal. HPV-related oropharyngeal carcinoma appears to be a new and distinct disease entity, with better survival than the classic non-HPV-related disease, they point out. "These patients are typically younger and employed, and — because outcomes seem to be more favorable than for patients with non-HPV-related carcinoma — they will live longer with the functional and psychological sequelae of their treatment. Consequently, they need prolonged support from health, social, and other services, and may require help returning to work," write the authors, headed by Hisham Mehanna, BMedSc, MB ChB, FRCS, director of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education at University Hospital in Coventry, United Kingdom. However, currently, there is no good evidence to support managing patients with HPV-related head and neck cancer differently from those whose tumors are not HPV-related, the researchers write. Several studies are being planned to evaluate different treatment options, and Dr. Mehanna and colleagues urge clinicians to offer all patients with oropharyngeal cancer the opportunity to enroll in a clinical trial. However, until data from those trials are available, "we suggest that clinicians should not change their current [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-18T08:06:16-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

High-risk HPV in the oral cavity of women with cervical cancer, and their children

Source: 7thSpace Author: Rajan SainiTan Association of High-risk Human Papillomavirus (HR-HPV) with oral cancer has been established recently. Detecting these viruses in oral cavity is important to prevent oral lesions related to them. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of HR-HPV in the oral cavity of women with cervical cancer, and their children. A total of 70 women, previously diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 46 children of these women, born by vaginal delivery only, were selected for this study. Buccal swabs were collected from their oral cavity and HPV detection was carried out using Hybrid Capture 2 high-risk HPV (HC2 HR-HPV) detection system. Results: Out of 70 women with cervical cancer, four (5.71%) were found to be positive for HR-HPV in their oral cavity. No association of HR-HPV was found with sociodemographic profile, marital status, reproductive history, tobacco and alcohol usage, contraceptive pills usage, and presence of oral lesions (p>0.05). Among children, HR-HPV in the oral cavity was detected in only 1 of the 46 subjects examined (2.17%). Clinically healthy oral mucosa, without any oral lesions, was observed in all the HR-HPV positive subjects. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that there is low, if any, risk of HR-HPV infection in the oral cavity of women with cervical cancer. Further, our study suggests that there is very low risk for children of women with cervical cancer, to acquire and sustain HR-HPV in their oral cavity until childhood or adolescence. Author: Rajan SainiTan KhimSarah RahmanMazian IsmailThean [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-06-16T11:53:33-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|