Oral Cancer News – Page 262 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Adverse events associated with concurrent chemoradiation therapy in patients with head and neck cancer

Source: Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2009;135(12):1209-1217 Authors: Daniel J. Givens, BS et al. Objective: To assess toxicities, functional outcomes, and health-related quality of life associated with concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT) in patients with head and neck cancer. Design: Prospective and retrospective outcomes study. Setting: Tertiary care institution. Patients: Participants in the longitudinal Outcomes Assessment Project whose head and neck cancer was treated with CRT between February 1, 2000, and March 1, 2007 (n = 104). Interventions: Patients prospectively provided functional and health-related quality of life information, including data from the 1-year and most current follow-up visits. Medical records were reviewed to determine toxicity and survival rates. Main Outcome Measures: Well-defined acute and late toxicities; functional outcomes (diet, dentition, tracheostomies); head and neck cancer–specific, general health, and depression outcomes; and survival rates. Results: Most patients had oropharyngeal or laryngeal tumors (87.5%) and advanced-stage disease (75.0%). Approximately one-half had hematologic toxicities and toxicity-related treatment delays. Approximately one-quarter had neurotoxicities and/or ototoxicites, moist desquamation, pneumonia, nausea and vomiting requiring hospitalization or intravenous fluids, dehydration or malnutrition requiring hospitalization, and mild or moderate fever. Although patients receiving the current intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) protocol using the Pinnacle3 planning system had more toxicity-related treatment delays, they had fewer toxicities and better functional and health-related quality of life outcomes compared with those receiving conventional lateral opposing-field radiation or the initial IMRT protocol using the Best nomos PEACOCK planning system. Conclusions: Patients receiving CRT experience a substantial number of treatment-related adverse events, primarily affecting oropharyngeal and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-23T14:52:45-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New artificial larynx helps people sound more human

Source: singularityhub.com Author: Aaron Saenz You may have a family member or friend who had throat cancer. Maybe you’ve seen a TV show where a heavy smoker needs an artificial larynx pressed to their neck to speak. Either way, you know the voice that they have to use: robotic, monotone, raspy. It works, but it can leave users unable to express themselves well. Researchers at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa have developed a new system that measures mouth movement to produce a more “human-like” voice. Their work was on display at the recent International Conference on Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Engineering. By placing a device called a palatometer under the tongue, users can try to speak as normal and have their words synthesized on a speaker. The South African artificial larynx can provide inflection, ending the dreaded monotone and providing the means to indicate you are asking a question. With proper calibration, researchers claim greater than 94% accuracy. That’s good news to those who want to regain a normal speaking voice. The palatometer, which measures tongue/mouth movements with 118+ pressure sensors, is an older device developed at BYU and produced by Complete Speech. It is most often used by speech therapists in instructing their patients and retails for around $200-$300. You can see a brief presentation of the palatometer after the break. University of Witwatersrand’s innovation comes in developing a selective way of using the mouth movement data to generate toned speech. After cataloging tongue motions, and using predictive-analysis, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-23T08:57:24-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Tongue reconstruction

Source: www.wsoctv.com/health Author: staff Tongue cancer accounts for about 25 percent of all oral cancers. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 10,530 cases of tongue cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. Although the cancer can occur at any age, it’s most commonly diagnosed in older people, with a median age at diagnosis of 61. Men are affected about twice as often as women. Two important risk factors for tongue cancer are smoking and drinking. For people who smoke and drink, the risk may be up to 100 times that of those who neither smoke nor drink. Another risk factor for tongue cancer is HPV (human papillomavirus) infection. Douglas Chepeha, M.D., Microvascular Reconstructive Surgeon with the University of Michigan, says doctors are also seeing cases of tongue cancer in young and older women who neither smoke nor drink. The reasons for these cases are not clear. Overall five-year survival rates for tongue cancer are about 59.5 percent. However, the cancer has the potential to spread fairly quickly. If the cancer is detected when the condition is still localized, 5-year survival rates are over 77 percent. Once the cancer spreads regionally, survival rates drop to about 55 percent. Thus, early diagnosis is important. Patients who develop a sore on the tongue that doesn’t heal or bleeds easily should see a physician for evaluation. Treating Tongue Cancer: Reconstruction After Surgery Tongue cancer typically occurs on one side of the tongue. The main treatment is surgery, which can require removal [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-19T23:14:42-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

FDA clears transoral robotic surgery – developed at Penn –for tumors of mouth, throat and voice box

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff A minimally invasive surgical approach developed by head and neck surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, California) has been cleared for TransOral Otolaryngology surgical procedures to treat benign tumors and selected malignant tumors in adults. Drs. Gregory S. Weinstein and Bert W. O’Malley, Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery founded the world’s first TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) programat Penn Medicine in 2004, where they developed and researched the TORS approach for a variety of robotic surgical neck approaches for both malignant and benign tumors of the mouth, voice box, tonsil, tongue and other parts of the throat. Since 2005, approximately 350 Penn patients have participated in the world’s first prospective clinical trials of TORS. These research trials compromise the largest and most comprehensive studies of the technology on record. “TORS has dramatically improved the way we treat head and neck cancer patients, completely removing tumors while preserving speech, swallowing, and other key quality of life issues,” said Bert O’Malley, Jr., MD, professor and chairman of Penn Medicine’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology:Head and Neck Surgery. “It is very exciting that a concept conceived at PENN, evaluated in pre-clinical experimental models at Penn, tested in clinical trials at Penn, and then taught to key surgeons and institutions both within the U.S. and internationally has been officially [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-19T23:10:00-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Comparative prognostic value of HPV16 E6 mRNA compared with in situ hybridization for human oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 27, No 36 (December 20), 2009: pp. 6213-6221 Authors: Wei Shi et al. Purpose: A significant proportion of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) are associated with the human papilloma virus (HPV), particularly HPV16. The optimal method for HPV determination on archival materials however, remains unclear. We compared a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay for HPV16 mRNA to a DNA in situ hybridization (ISH) method, and evaluated their significance for overall (OS) and disease-free (DFS) survival. Patients and Methods: Matched, archival biopsies from 111 patients with OSCC were evaluated for HPV16 using a qRT-PCR for E6 mRNA and ISH for DNA. Immunohistochemistry for p16, p53, and epidermal growth factor receptor were also performed. Results: HPV16 E6 mRNA was positive in 73 (66%) of 111 samples; ISH was positive in 62 of 106 samples (58%), with 86% concordance. P16 was overexpressed in 72 samples (65%), which was strongly associated with HPV16 status by either method. E6 mRNA presence or p16 overexpression were significantly associated with superior OS; E6 mRNA, HPV16 ISH, or p16 were all significantly associated with DFS. On multivariate analysis adjusted for age, stage, and treatment, positive E6 mRNA was the only independent predictor for superior OS; for DFS, p16 expression or HPV16 status determined by either method was significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of HPV16 in OSCC ranges from 58% to 66%, in a recently treated Canadian cohort. Classification of HPV-positivity by HPV16 E6 mRNA, HPV16 ISH or p16 immunohistochemistry (IHC) is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-19T23:04:23-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Scientists decode entire genetic code of cancer

Source: www.popsci.com Author: Jeremy Hsu And cigarette smokers get a free mutation in every pack In a major step toward understanding cancer, one of the biggest problems bedeviling modern medicine, scientists have now cracked the genetic code for two of the most common cancers. This marks just the beginning of an international effort to catalog all the genes that go wrong among the many types of human cancer, the BBC reports. Cracking the Cancer Code A cluster of breast cancer cells, with blue ones marking actively growing cells and yellow marking dying cells. Could scientists crack their code next? Too much time spent under the sun apparently leads to most of the 30,000 mutations contained within the DNA code for melanoma, or skin cancer. Outside experts told the BBC that no previous study has managed to link specific mutations to their causes. Wellcome Trust scientists also found more than 23,000 errors in the lung cancer DNA code, with most caused by cigarette smoke exposure. A typical smoker might get one new mutation, possibly harmless but also possibly a cancer trigger, for every 15 cigarettes that they smoke. The new cancer maps could lead to better blood tests for diagnosing the respective cancers, as well as better targeted drugs. Blood tests might even reveal the DNA patterns that suggest cancer lies on the horizon. The International Cancer Genome Consortium still expects to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in cracking the code of the many human cancers. The U.S. has the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-17T19:52:17-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Adapting the science of supplements and cancer prevention

Source: www.cancer.gov Author: Carmen Phillips Numerous studies suggest that avoiding excess weight, exercising regularly, and eating a diet heavy on fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of many diseases, including cancer. But as the expanding obesity epidemic has shown, there are major obstacles to getting broad swaths of people to adopt such a healthful lifestyle. So, for many years, cancer researchers have investigated whether specific nutrients—those that epidemiologic and animal model studies have suggested could sway cancer’s course—could decrease cancer risk. Much has been learned from this work, researchers in the field say, but, as is the case with treatment, each new discovery points to new areas of focus and other potential avenues of progress. With promising bioactive compounds in the pipeline, many prevention researchers are focused on figuring out not just whether something like sulforaphane, a natural compound found in broccoli and broccoli sprouts, can kill cancer cells in a test tube or animal model—which it does, quite well—but how, at the molecular level, it accomplishes this task, whether there are some cancer cells that are more likely to respond to it, and whether there are ways of discerning early on that the intervention is having its intended effect. Prevention: A Complex Matter A number of supplements have been tested in large prevention trials, including vitamins A, C, and E; selenium; beta-carotene; and folic acid. At least one trial has demonstrated a reduction in cancer deaths with a combination of supplements, while several others found no reduction or even [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-17T19:42:35-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Mitchell teens give ‘Unfiltered Reality’ check

Source: www.keloland.com Author: Katie Janssen They look just like candy and gum; pop them in your mouth and they melt like mints. It may sound innocent enough, but they're just as addictive as cigarettes. Tobacco companies are adding new products, and experts say they're getting better at targeting them to kids. But a group of Mitchell teens is trying to see through the hype and educate parents and their peers. They call themselves "Unfiltered Reality," and around 300 middle and high school students are part of the Mitchell group. Their goal is to educate as many people as possible not just about what smoking can do, but how today's kids are increasingly targeted. "Actually make it look like candy, boxes color-coordinated with candy, gum, Tic-Tacs, make it look closer," Zane Ireland, a senior at Mitchell High School and member of Unfiltered Reality, said. And they have several examples. They found a can of apple-flavored chewing tobacco that looks very similar to apple-flavored mints and gum. A small cigarillo looks just like a tube of lip balm, and the tiny cigars come in flavors like pina colada and tangerine. And they also found a pack of cigarettes that looks a lot like breath mints, and the cigarettes even contain a mint capsule that smokers can pop to add flavor. "Pretty colors, cool shapes and designs; more people would think it's cool and want to try it," Emma Kelly, also a senior at MHS and member of Unfiltered Reality, said. The group [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-17T08:22:17-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Study cites radiation risk from CT scans

Source: nytimes.com Author: staff Radiation from CT scans done in 2007 will cause 29,000 cancers and kill nearly 15,000 Americans, researchers said Monday. The findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, add to mounting evidence that Americans are overexposed to radiation from diagnostic tests, especially from a specialized kind of X-ray called a computed tomography, or CT, scan. "What we learned is there is a significant amount of radiation with these CT scans, more than what we thought, and there is a significant number of cancers," said Dr. Rita Redberg, editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, where the studies were published. "It's estimated that just from the CT scans done in one year, just in 2007, there will be 15,000 excess deaths," Redberg said in a telephone interview. "We're doing millions of CT scans every year and the numbers are increasing. That is a lot of excess deaths." CT scans give doctors a view inside the body, often eliminating the need for exploratory surgery. But CT scans involve much higher radiation dose than conventional X-rays. A chest CT scan exposes the patient to more than 100 times the radiation dose of a chest X-ray. About 70 million CT scans were done on Americans in 2007, up from 3 million in 1980. Amy Berrington de Gonzalez of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues developed a computer model to estimate the impact of so many scans. They estimated the scans done in 2007 will cause 29,000 cancers. A third of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-15T21:58:15-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New survey shows slow decline in youth smoking, troubling increase in smokeless tobacco use – congress, states must step up tobacco prevention efforts

Source: www.streetinsider.com Author: staff The 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey released today by the National Institute of Drug Abuse shows that the nation continues to make gradual progress in reducing youth smoking, but declines have slowed significantly compared to the dramatic gains early in the decade. In especially troubling news, the survey also finds that smokeless tobacco use has increased among 10th and 12th graders in recent years, a period during which tobacco companies have introduced a slew of new smokeless tobacco products and significantly increased marketing for smokeless tobacco. There is no question that we know how to dramatically reduce youth tobacco use. The use of proven strategies has caused smoking rates (the percentage who have smoked in the past 30 days) to decline by 69 percent among 8th graders, 57 percent among 10th graders and 45 percent among 12th graders since peaking in the mid-1990s. This is a remarkable public health success story. Before the recent increase, youth smokeless tobacco use also declined significantly from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. However, the much slower progress in recent years is a clear warning to elected officials at all levels that they must resist complacency and redouble efforts to implement proven measures - rather than cutting tobacco prevention programs, as 34 states did this year. It is unacceptable to stand still or risk backsliding in the fight against the nation's number one preventable cause of death. It is also unacceptable that one in five high school seniors still smoke [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-15T21:51:05-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|