Oral Cancer News – Page 303 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Treatment approach using radiofrequency waves heats up

Source: www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin Author: Carmen Phillips It began with chemotherapy-induced sleeplessness and some pie pans. At one point hot dogs were involved. It inspired residents of two small communities 1,300 miles apart, and eventually landed in the labs of two major academic medical centers. And, sadly, just 5 weeks ago, the man who began it all died of treatment complications after a nearly 7-year battle with B-cell leukemia. The story of retired radio engineer and executive John Kanzius and the radiofrequency (RF) generator that he dreamed would one day be part of a highly effective cancer treatment captivated readers of Discover magazine and viewers of “60 Minutes.” Now his invention is maneuvering through the steps needed to demonstrate readiness for clinical testing in humans. “Realistically, we still have hoops to jump through and things to prove,” said Dr. Steven A. Curley from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, who, along with Dr. David Geller from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has been part of this project since its earliest days. “But I’ll continue to work on this and move it forward because I think it has great promise.” An image of pancreatic cancer cells treated with gold nanoparticles. The cells on the left received 2 minutes of external radiofrequency (RF) field treatment resulting in unstable nuclei and intracellular damage. The cells on the right received no RF treatment and their nuclei and organelles remain intact. (Image courtesy of Dr. Stephen Curley) A Trojan Horse…on Fire RF, Mr. Kanzius [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-25T08:41:09-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Colleen Zenk Pinter’s battle with cancer

Source: www.womansday.com Author: By Colleen Zenk Pinter, as told to Micki Siegel The cameras were rolling and I was trying to say my lines, but I knew I sounded like I'd had a stroke. For the last 30 years I've been playing Barbara Ryan, a feisty woman who's never at a loss for words, on As the World Turns. But now I couldn't get the words out clearly. Viewers started writing to the show and flooding fan websites, wondering why I sounded so awful. I knew I owed them an explanation, but I just wasn't ready. I was still digesting the bad news. On March 5, 2007–my daughter Georgia's 14th birthday–I found out that I had oral cancer. Stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma, to be exact. I remember leaving the doctor's office, picking up Georgia's birthday cake, wrapping some presents and hosting a party as if nothing had happened. I was in shock. I thought most people who got oral cancer were men who smoked and drank heavily, and I don't fall into any of those categories. But I learned that I was probably among the fastest-growing group of oral cancer patients, because my illness was most likely caused by HPV-16, a strain of a common sexually transmitted virus that can also cause cervical cancer. Scary Signs It started in December 2005, when I noticed that my speech was changing. Suddenly my s's had a bit of a whistle. My dentist said that because I was in my 50s, my [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T21:30:08-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

A fighting partner

Source: RDH Magazine Author: Donna Marie Grzegorek Dentists and hygienists should be teaming up to be the first line of defense against oral cancer. In the United States this year, more than 35,310 new cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer will be diagnosed, with an estimated 7,590 people who will die. Sadly, survival rates for oral cancer have not changed significantly in 40 years, and embarrassingly, dental professionals are alone among health professionals who screen for cancer with their hands and eyes. Under the watchful eye of the dental practitioner, 70% of the lesions found during visual and palpation exams are detected in Stage III and Stage IV, and one–half of those patients (58%) will survive less than five years. It gets worse ... a survey conducted by the American Dental Association revealed that only 15% of patients reported having an oral cancer examination during a routine dental appointment. And noteworthy, failure to diagnose oral cancer is the number two cause of dental malpractice in the United States. Oral cancer claims constitute the most expensive malpractice suits and the most difficult to defend, with awards typically exceeding $1 million. If these statistics are not compelling enough, take note that the face of oral cancer is changing. No longer should we look at the older male patient with a chronic history of tobacco and alcohol abuse as the only high–risk patient. Twenty–seven percent of all new oral cancers are occurring in young adults with no associated risk factors. So I ask [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T17:48:40-07:00March, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco product has experts divided

Source: www.gazette.com Author: Brian Newsome Sweden brought us meatballs, the Nobel prize, Ikea, the Saab and the Volvo. But the country's latest mark on the U.S. is not so benign. An oral tobacco product known as snus recently arrived in Colorado Springs and other U.S. towns. The moist tobacco, which comes in a tea-bag-style pouch that goes under the upper lip, has public health experts divided. Some say snus (rhymes with loose) could save scores of lives if smokers switch to it, because the product contains far fewer carcinogens than do cigarettes, chew and snuff. Critics, though, say snus will only increase the number of people addicted to nicotine and poses a serious threat to anti-tobacco efforts. They say it could create a new crop of young nicotine addicts, while smokers could just as easily supplement their habit rather than substitute one for the other. Some Americans have been using snus by ordering it online or buying it in U.S. test markets, but R.J. Reynolds Tobacco didn't release Camel Snus nationally until a few weeks ago, the first and only major tobacco company to do so. Philip Morris is selling Marlboro Snus in test markets. In Sweden, nearly a fifth of men in 2007 said they used snus daily, compared with 12 percent who smoke, according to Swedish Match, the country's largest snus producer. The trend doesn't hold for Swedish women: just 4 percent use snus and 16 percent smoke. Sweden also has fewer cases of lung cancer than the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T17:33:15-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Diagnostic aids in the screening of oral cancer

Source: Head Neck Oncol, January 1, 2009; 1(1): 5 Author: S Fedele The World Health Organization has clearly indentified prevention and early detection as major objectives in the control of the oral cancer burden worldwide. At the present time, screening of oral cancer and its pre-invasive intra-epithelial stages, as well as its early detection, is still largely based on visual examination of the mouth. There is strong available evidence to suggest that visual inspection of the oral mucosa is effective in reducing mortality from oral cancer in individuals exposed to risk factors. Simple visual examination, however, is well known to be limited by subjective interpretation and by the potential, albeit rare, occurrence of dysplasia and early OSCC within areas of normal-looking oral mucosa. As a consequence, adjunctive techniques have been suggested to increase our ability to differentiate between benign abnormalities and dysplastic/malignant changes as well as to identify areas of dysplasia/early OSCC that are not visible to naked eye. These include the use of toluidine blue, brush biopsy, chemiluminescence and tissue autofluorescence. The present paper reviews the evidence supporting the efficacy of the aforementioned techniques in improving the identification of dysplastic/malignant changes of the oral mucosa. We conclude that available studies have shown promising results, but strong evidence to support the use of oral cancer diagnostic aids is still lacking. Further research with clear objectives, well-defined population cohorts, and sound methodology is strongly required. Author's affiliation: Oral Medicine Unit, Division of Maxillofacial, Diagnostic, Medical and Surgical Sciences, UCL Eastman Dental [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T05:34:14-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

El Camino hospital institute launches genetic testing services

Source: sanjose.bizjournals.com Author: staff El Camino Hospital debuts the Genomic Medicine Institute — the first center of its type in the United States — on March 26. Jon Friedenberg, El Camino vice president and head of the Institute, said Silicon Valley is the epicenter of genomic medicine, with many venture capitalists funding and companies developing products in this arena. “It makes sense that we’d be early adopters to this type of personalized medicine,” he said. The institute will start with a $1.2 million budget and a $500 million operating budget. “We’re relying on philanthropy to support us through the first few years,” El Camino Hospital CEO Ken Graham said. “But we think the testing will make up the difference in cost efficiencies in the hospital and in our labs. And as time goes on, I think we’ll be able to demonstrate great success.” The institute’s goal is to provide an infrastructure to support physicians and patients in genetic testing, counseling and genomic-based therapies. Friedenberg said infrastructure is critical because even if a physician is an early adopter of genomic testing, he or she needs a system to provide pre- and post-test counseling specific to each disease. One of the tests the center will offer is Oncotype DX, a test for women with breast cancer, from Genomic Health Inc. in Redwood City. It will enable their physicians to assess whether chemotherapy is the best course for treatment, since 20 percent of breast cancer patients don’t respond to chemotherapy. “If we can [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T05:25:43-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Reirradiation may extend life in head and neck cancers

Source: www.modernmedicine.com Author: staff For some patients, reirradiation of recurrent head and neck cancer can extend life. But for those with comorbidities or organ dysfunction, such as feeding tube dependence, it is likely to offer only palliative support, according to a report in the March 16 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Tawee Tanvetyanon, M.D., of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues reviewed medical records of 103 patients with head and neck cancer who received reirradiation at the center between 1998 and 2008. In an effort to determine prognostic factors for success, researchers analyzed the data using both the Charlson index and Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27). The investigators found significant comorbidity in 36 percent of the study group with the Charlson index and 24 percent with the ACE-27; organ dysfunction occurred in 37 percent of patients. For patients with both organ dysfunction and comorbidity, median overall survival was 5.5 months (Charlson) and 4.9 months (ACE-27). This compared with 59.6 months (Charlson) and 44.2 months (ACE-27) for patients who did not have either organ dysfunction or comorbidity, the researchers report. Lesser prognostic factors were stage of recurrent tumor, tumor size and reirradiation dose. "For patients with favorable risk factors, reirradiation should be strongly considered as it offers the promise of long-term survival. For patients with poor risk factors, however, such promise is unlikely," the authors write.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-24T05:20:22-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Oncolytics Biotech(R) Inc. collaborators present positive head and neck results in phase I/II combination

Source: pr-canada.net Author: press release Oncolytics Biotech Inc. announced that interim clinical results from its Phase I/II U.K. trial of Reolysin(R) combined with paclitaxel/carboplatin for patients with advanced cancers were presented at the Fifth International Meeting on Replicating Oncolytic Virus Therapeutics. The meeting is being held in Banff, Alberta from March 18th to 22nd, 2009. The principal investigator for the trial is Dr. Kevin Harrington of The Institute of Cancer Research. To date, fifteen head and neck cancer patients have been treated in the Phase I/II trial. All but one patient had prior platinum treatment. Of 12 patients evaluable for clinical response, five have experienced Partial Response (PR) and four have experienced Stable Disease (SD) ranging from two to six months. For patients who have been followed for at least six months since their initial treatment, the median progression-free survival (PFS) is currently six months, while the overall survival is currently seven months. The literature suggests that platinum refractory patients typically have a PFS of approximately two months and a median survival ranging from 4.5 to 6.5 months. The overall survival figure may evolve as many of the patients are still alive. "In patients previously treated with platinum agents, where the response rate (PR and Complete Response (CR)) is generally in the 3-10% range, a response rate of 42% and a 75% clinical benefit rate (SD, PR, and CR) are dramatic," said Dr. Karl Mettinger, Chief Medical Officer for Oncolytics. The Phase I/II trial has two components. The first is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-23T06:53:05-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Some say candy-like tobacco tablets a danger to teens

Source: www.kgw.com Author: Jane Smith, KGW staff They’re called Orbs, the first dissolvable tobacco product introduced by a major tobacco company, R.J. Reynolds. Oregon Partnership, a nonprofit group that works to prevent drug abuse among teens says the Orbs are a danger to young people. The tablets have some teenagers doing a double take. "It just looks like a normal mint and if it weren't in that container it would be easy to pass of as a regular mint," said Alex Hailey. “It's a tobacco product with nicotine it's addictive unfortunately kids will probably be attracted to it," said Pete Schulberg. But Reynolds denies marketing to kids, saying Orbs are meant for adults. The tablets hit the Portland market in January, the same month the city became smoke free in restaurants and bars. Some parents worry the products are a more socially acceptable way of putting nicotine into the hands of smokers. "I guess I'm wondering what's the purpose? It seems like it's trying to get around tobacco laws. It seems a little subversive," said one parent. The products are marked with warnings, it may cause mouth cancer and it’s not a safe alternative to cigarettes. While the products may be less harmful because they are smoke-free, they still contain nicotine and can be addictive, no matter what your age.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-07T18:22:36-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

FDA approves genetic test for identifying human papillomavirus

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Jacquelyn K. Beals, PhD A new test for human papillomavirus (HPV) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The test, Cervista HPV 16/18 (Hologic Inc), is the first to rely on identification of DNA sequences specific to 2 high-risk HPVs that cause most cases of cervical cancer in the United States. Among more than 100 types of HPVs, many are low-risk viruses that cause warts or noncancerous growths. Other HPVs are considered high risk because their infections more frequently lead to cancer. More than a dozen types of sexually transmitted high-risk HPVs typically cause flat, hard-to-see growths on the cervix, but most of these infections resolve on their own without causing cancer. Persistent HPV infections, some lasting for many years with or without detectable symptoms, are the major cause of cervical cancer. Estimates in 2007 predicted that 11,000 US women would be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4000 would die from the disease. Worldwide, the annual mortality from cervical cancer is close to 250,000. Approximately 70% of all cervical cancers are caused by HPV types 16 and 18, and factors such as smoking or bearing many children further increase the risk for cervical cancer in women infected with high-risk HPVs. The newly approved test can identify DNA sequences from HPV 16 and HPV 18 in samples of cervical cells, even before definitive changes occur in cells of the cervix. The FDA also approved a second DNA test, the Cervista HPV HR test (Hologic [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-03-21T08:30:33-07:00March, 2009|Oral Cancer News|