Oral Cancer News – Page 313 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Viralytics to test Cavatak™ in head and neck cancer

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: staff Viralytics Limited has received approval to undertake a new phase I intratumoural (direct injection of accessible solid tumours) trial in Head and Neck Cancer, a cancer previously unchallenged with Cavatak™. Approximately 45,000 new cases of head and neck cancer are diagnosed each year in the US (approximately six percent of all cancers). The primary objective of the study is to determine the safety of Cavatak™ given by intratumoural injection in the treatment of recurrent, inoperable tumours of the head and neck. Three groups of patients will receive single or multiple (3 or 6) intratumoural injections of Cavatak™. There will be three patients in each group. Secondary objectives include the evaluation of Cavatak™ replication, immune response to Cavatak™ and any evidence of anti-tumour activity. The trial will be conducted in an Australian hospital and details of the trial will be available shortly at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Data obtained from this new trial, together with that already accumulated from existing clinical evaluations of Cavatak™ in patients with late stage melanoma, breast and prostate cancer (solid tumours) will expand the product profile of tolerance, bio-availability and anti-cancer mode of action in solid tumours. Direct injection of accessible solid tumours, like head and neck cancer, achieves localized delivery of high concentrations of Cavatak™, maximizing the potential for rapid tumour cell death and activation of favourable host anti-tumour immune responses. Such a delivery strategy also permits more accurate tumour measurement and scientific evaluation of the potency of Cavatak™. Supporting data from the monitoring [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-18T13:35:12-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Dietary supplements: friend or foe?

Source: patient.cancerconsultants.com Author: Eleanor Mayfield With research pointing to pros and cons of vitamin and mineral supplements, these dietary decisions become increasingly complex. Here’s a quick quiz: 1. Are you a cancer patient or survivor? 2. Do you take any dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, or herbs? 3. Have you discussed with your doctor the pros and cons of using these supplements? If you answered yes to questions 1 and 2 and no to question 3, you’re not alone. A recent review in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that supplement use is widespread among cancer patients and longer-term survivors and that most don’t discuss their supplement use with their doctors. In fact, in different studies 64 to 81 percent of respondents reported using vitamin or mineral supplements. Up to 68 percent of doctors were unaware of supplement use by their patients. Cancer patients and survivors tend to use dietary supplements at higher rates than the rest of the U.S. population, the review found. Supplement use was highest among women, breast cancer survivors, and people with higher levels of education. People who take supplements generally believe that doing so will benefit their health. In studies included in the review, the reported reasons for supplement use included strengthening the immune system, helping cope with stress, improving the chance of a cure, and helping the user feel better. Users may assume that the supplements they take can’t do them any harm. Research findings suggest, however, that supplements can sometimes be harmful. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-18T13:11:44-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Parotid gland sparing IMRT for head and neck cancer improves xerostomia related quality of life

Source: Radiation Oncology, December 9, 2008; 3(1): 41. Authors: C M van Rij, W D Oughlane-Heemsbergen, A H Ackerstaff, E A Lamers, A Jm Balm, and C Rn Rasch ABSTRACT: Background and purpose: To assess the impact of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) versus conventional radiation on late xerostomia and Quality of Life aspects in head and neck cancer patients. Patients and methods: Questionnaires on xerostomia in rest and during meals were sent to all patients treated between January 1999 and December 2003 with a T1-4, N0-2 M0 head and neck cancer, with parotid gland sparing IMRT or conventional bilateral neck irradiation to a dose of at least 60 Gy, who were progression free and had no disseminated disease (n= 192). Overall response was 85 % (n = 163); 97 % in the IMRT group (n = 75) and 77 % in the control group (n = 88) the median follow-up was 2.6 years. The prevalence of complaints was compared between the two groups, correcting for all relevant factors at multivariate ordinal regression analysis. RESULTS: Patients treated with IMRT reported significantly less difficulty transporting and swallowing their food and needed less water for a dry mouth during day, night and meals. They also experienced fewer problems with speech and eating in public. Laryngeal cancer patients in general had fewer complaints than oropharynx cancer patients but both groups benefited from IMRT. Within the IMRT group the xerostomia scores were better for those patients with a mean parotid dose to the "spared" parotid [...]

Webmaster2008-12-17T10:25:00-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Speech and swallowing impairment after treatment for oral and oropharyngeal cancer

Source: Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(12):1299-1304 Authors: Maria-Mercedes Suarez-Cunqueiro, DDS, PhD et al. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of speech and swallowing impairment after radical surgery for oral and oropharyngeal cancer from the patient's viewpoint and to examine the association of these functional alterations with selected clinical characteristics regarding patients, tumors, and oncologic treatment. Design: Cross-sectional, multicenter study using a self-administered questionnaire. Setting: Forty-three hospitals in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Patients: A total of 3894 questionnaires about rehabilitation problems after treatment for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were sent to patients. Of these, 1652 were filled out and returned, and 1334 (80.8%) met the inclusion criteria. Main Outcome Measures: Morbidity associated with treatment of oral and oropharyngeal cancer. Results: Speech problems were reported by 851 patients (63.8%), and swallowing problems were reported by 1006 patients (75.4%). The variables that presented a significant association with speech and swallowing impairment were sex, tumor location, pTNM stages, stage of tumor, treatment modality, and reconstruction type. Conclusions: This survey, based on patient perception, suggests that those who undergo radiotherapy associated with the surgical removal of a tumor, have late-stage tumors (III-IV), or have tumors located in the floor of the mouth should be informed of the greater risk of persistent severe speech and swallowing problems. Authors: Maria-Mercedes Suarez-Cunqueiro, DDS, PhD; Alexander Schramm, DDS, MD, PhD; Ralf Schoen, DDS, MD, PhD; Juan Seoane-Lestón, DDS, MD, PhD; Xosé-Luis Otero-Cepeda, PhD; Kai-Hendrik Bormann, DDS; Horst Kokemueller, MD, DDS; Marc Metzger, MD, DDS; Pedro Diz-Dios, DDS, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-16T12:59:18-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Prevention of hearing loss in children receiving cisplatin chemotherapy

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 10.1200/JCO.2008.20.1160 Authors: David R. Freyer et al. To The Editor: Fouladi et al1 are to be congratulated for the recent publication of their study demonstrating that amifostine protects against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in children with average risk medulloblastoma. Despite limitations imposed by the study design (eg, use of a nonrandomized control group and heterogenous cranial irradiation techniques), the investigators nonetheless have made a valuable contribution to the growing field of pediatric cancer control research and to prevention of hearing loss in particular. First, they persisted in completing this study despite others that failed to demonstrate otoprotection by amifostine.2-4 Second, as the authors discuss, their positive results may be attributable to their use of a more dose-intensive schedule of amifostine, illustrating the critical need for cancer-control trials, like their disease-directed counterparts, to incorporate the most current and complete pharmacologic data for the drug under investigation. Finally, this study provides good evidence for adding amifostine to the growing list of agents used to prevent specific chemotherapeutic toxicities in pediatric oncology practice, including calcium leucovorin, mesna, cytokine growth factors, and, more recently, dexrazoxane. In so doing, the study strengthens the case for active development of other forms of chemoprotection as a useful supportive care strategy. At the same time, important questions remain, owing to the study’s focus on patients with medulloblastoma and selection of amifostine as the drug of interest. The cisplatin dose and schedule are somewhat different in this study (a lower cisplatin dose being given on a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-16T10:00:12-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Human Papillomavirus-16 modifies the association between fruit consumption and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Source: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 17, 3419-3426, December 1, 2008 Author: Mara S. Meyer et al. Human papillomavirus-16 (HPV-16) is a risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HPV-positive cancers have distinct disease cofactors and improved survival following treatment. There is conflicting evidence of a protective association of fruit consumption with HNSCC. As HPV-related disease is clinically distinct, we investigated whether the association between fruit consumption and HNSCC risk was modified by exposure to HPV-16. We studied 270 cases and 493 controls with fruit intake information and known HPV-16 antibody status. Cases were identified at nine Boston-area medical facilities between 1999 and 2003. Controls were randomly selected from the greater population and frequency matched to cases by age, gender, and town of residence. Controlling for age, gender, race, smoking, alcohol, total energy intake, body mass index, and education, the seronegative individuals had a significantly lower risk of HNSCC with increasing total fruit consumption [odds ratio (OR)tertile 2, 0.60; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.38-0.95; ORtertile 3, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.35-0.95] and specifically increasing citrus fruit consumption (ORtertile 2, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39-0.97; ORtertile 3, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.37-0.96). However, among the seropositive, risk increased with greater fruit consumption (ORtertile 2, 2.27; 95% CI, 0.92-5.58; ORtertile 3, 1.40; 95% CI, 0.55-3.59) and citrus fruit consumption (ORtertile 2, 3.35; 95% CI, 1.36, 8.24; ORtertile 3, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.23-8.08). This interaction was statistically significant (P

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-16T09:32:39-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Unique U-M surgery creates fully usable tongue following tongue cancer

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: staff The night before her surgery for tongue cancer, 30-year-old Lisa Bourdon-Krause realized she might never be able to speak to her toddler son again. So she sat up half the night recording messages to him: "Hi, how was your day?," "You're so handsome," "You have a stinky butt. I need to change you." She read two of his favorite books. "It took me about three times to get through the one story, but I did it and I'm glad I did it. It made me feel safer going into surgery knowing that if something happened to me or if I couldn't speak when I woke up, he would be able to hear my voice and know how much I loved him," Bourdon-Krause says. The surgery was to remove a cancerous tumor growing near the back of her tongue. Surgeons would remove half of her tongue, an operation that would dramatically affect basic functions such as speech and swallowing. But by using innovative techniques in oral reconstruction, surgeons at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center were able to reconstruct a tongue using skin from Bourdon-Krause's own forearm. Today -- eight years after that surgery -- she remains cancer free. But just as importantly, she remains able to swallow, eat and speak to her son. "Tongue reconstruction in the past would have limited a patient to a soft diet -- mostly liquids, some soft solids. At present with the tongue reconstructions that we're performing, patients are able [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-15T12:33:28-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Other ailments can affect survival of head and neck cancer

Source: record.wustl.edu Author: Gwen Ericson Current estimates for head and neck cancer survival are largely inaccurate because they widely disregard many of the most common diseases such patients have in addition to their primary cancer, said Jay Piccirillo, M.D., a head and neck specialist at the School of Medicine, the Siteman Cancer Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. This highlights a broader problem with cancer survival statistics, which generally don't take into account the effect of coexisting conditions or comorbidities, Piccirillo said. In a recent study, Piccirillo, professor of otolaryngology and director of the Clinical Outcomes Research Office at the School of Medicine, showed that the risk of death increased up to sevenfold when patients with head and neck cancer developed new or more severe coexisting ailments such as heart problems, diabetes or lung disorders after cancer diagnosis. The study, published in the October issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, is the first to look at comorbidities in head and neck cancer patients in the period following diagnosis. "For decades, we have used a cancer-staging system based on tumor size, lymph node involvement and whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body when estimating a patient's survival while mostly ignoring how sick patients are from other diseases," Piccirillo said. "In fact, national databases used to estimate cancer survival don't account for comorbidities, and, as a result, we don't have very accurate estimates of how long patients are likely to survive their cancers." Some past studies of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-12T10:59:26-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Help requested to research early oral cancer detection

Source: British Dental Journal 205, 586 (2008) Author: staff A research group at the University of Sheffield are inviting dentists to participate in a study investigating how general dental practitioners working in primary care screen and refer suspicious oral soft tissue lesions. Professor Paul Speight, Dr Sarah Baker and Paul Brocklehurst from the School of Clinical Dentistry in Sheffield are investigating the cues or factors which GDPs take into account when deciding whether or not to refer a lesion to secondary care. The information will be used to prepare guidelines which may result in more rapid referral of appropriate lesions. Oral cancer affects almost 4,500 Britons every year and 50% of these will die of their disease. The team say that the main reason for this high mortality is that many patients present to secondary care with large lesions, when it is already too late to initiate curative treatment. There are many reasons for delay in presentation, but one possible reason is that lesions are not identified and referred to hospital specialists. Colleagues are invited to participate in this study by completing a short web-based questionnaire, which comprises ten clinical cases histories. The task is to decide which of the lesions practitioners would refer and to record the factors that influenced the decision. Full details of the project and access to the questionnaire can be found on http://www.oralcancerscreening.com.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-12T08:11:28-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Robotic tongue cancer surgery

Source: kaaltv.com Author: staff Fighting cancer is not easy. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery can be very hard on your body. Take head and neck cancers, for example. These tumors are often hard to reach. Doctors have to cut through bones such as your jaw to reach them. Now, doctors at Mayo Clinic are using robots to access these cancers leaving face bones intact. Roger Combs may be having a tough time beating his wife Gloria at a game of gin rummy. But he's winning a much tougher battle; a fight against cancer that formed at the base of his tongue. "I really didn't feel badly. I had some difficulty swallowing," he says. Roger's doctors told him the cancer had to be removed. "But the tongue and tonsillar area is a very hard area to get to," says Dr. Eric Moore. Dr. Moore says traditional surgery often involves splitting the jawbone open to access the tumor. "And obviously that's disfiguring, interferes with speech and swallowing and it takes a lot of time to recover, " he says. So instead, Dr. Moore used a robot to remove Roger's cancer. The operation involves lowering the robotic equipment through Roger's mouth to the site of the tumor. While seated at a control panel Dr. Moore then guides the robot as it removes the cancer without damaging surrounding structures. After Roger healed from the operation, he went through radiation and chemotherapy - both of which were not easy. "We've had some ups and downs as [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-11T13:29:12-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|