Oral Cancer News – Page 333 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Positron Emission Tomography Offers Modest Improvement for Staging of Head and Neck Cancers: Presented at AHNS

Source: Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) Author: Arushi Sinha Use of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging offers modest improvement in positive predictive value, specificity, and accuracy compared with computed tomography (CT) for diagnosing head and neck cancers. Researchers at the American Head and Neck Society 7th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer (AHNS) presented new data on the effectiveness of PET scans singly or in combination with CT compared with CT scans alone. "We used the scans in comparison to the gold standard, which was the pathology findings from neck dissections," explained study presenter Surjeet Pohar, MD, Department of Radiation Oncology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia. The study, presented in a poster session on July 22, used information gathered from 36 patients diagnosed with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. All the patients underwent neck dissection as well as CT scans, PET scans, or combined PET and CT. In addition, all patients received a full medical examination, endoscopy, and X-ray imaging to help stage their disease. In addition, nodal involvement and information about the side of the neck were also documented. As a result of the full diagnostic workup, the researchers found that most patients exhibited locally advanced disease: 4 patients had stage II disease; 3 had stage III disease; and 25 had stage IV disease. Four patients had indeterminate staging at the time of the initial workup. Results showed that several parameters of the different imaging technique were comparable. CT scans exhibited sensitivity to the samples in 72% of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-25T03:02:48-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Reynolds Tobacco Claims Show Litigation Discount (Update2)

Source: Bloomberg.com Author: William McQuillen Reynolds American Inc., which escaped a $145 billion class-action verdict against the tobacco industry two years ago, may see its market value cut by more than $2 billion as thousands of the same smokers press individual claims. Several victories among the 8,000 Florida plaintiffs may reduce the second-largest tobacco company's $15 billion value as much as 15 percent, said Brian Barish, who runs the Cambiar Aggressive Value Fund. That would equal a $2.3 billion decline. The revival of large-scale litigation may mean the return of the discount that plagued shares of tobacco companies after a jury trial in Miami led to the historic punitive-damages award in July 2000. ``If the tobacco companies were to start to lose cases, the market would wake up to this issue,'' said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management, who oversees $2 billion. His Bedford Hills, New York, firm owns no stock in the companies named in the suit, he said. Reynolds fell $1.22, or 2.3 percent, to $50.99 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, tracking the slide in Standard & Poor's 500 shares. Reynolds has declined 23 percent this year. Besides Reynolds, cigarette makers named in the latest round of Florida suits include Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc., the nation's biggest tobacco company, and Greensboro, North Carolina-based Lorillard Inc., the third- largest. Lorillard fell $2.62, or 3.8 percent, to $66.99. Altria dropped 40 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $20.81. Market `Distractions' Altria might fall 20 percent [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-24T20:52:30-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Gardasil vaccine eradicating human papillomavirus infections

Source: news.com.au Author: Kate Sikora The new cervical cancer vaccine is expected to almost eradicate human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in Australian women by 2050 if the high rate of immunization amongst girls continues. Research to be released today by the Cancer Council NSW reveals the number of new HPV cases in women will fall by more than 50 per cent in the next two years. In 40 years, the number of cases will fall by 97 per cent. A national program launched last April has seen 3.7 million girls vaccinated with Gardasil, which has the potential to prevent up to 70 per cent of cervical cancers. Before the vaccination program, there were 108,000 new infections of HPV16 - responsible for 50 per cent of cervical cancers - every year, but that number is expected to fall to 47,000 by 2010. Dr Karen Canfell, lead author of the study, warned the reduction in HPV would only occur if girls continued to be vaccinated. "We expect to see a very fast reduction in the number of new HPV infections, largely due to the high school vaccination program, which we estimate has achieved high coverage of just over 80 per cent of 12-13-year-old girls," she said. "This reduction will only occur if we maintain this high vaccination coverage among younger age groups." Gardasil has attracted controversy over its rate of adverse reactions. Nationally, there have been 1013 reports of adverse side effects from Gardasil to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Girls have reported allergic [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-24T21:12:24-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Greater Accuracy in Staging Can Influence Long-Term Treatment Options in Oropharyngeal Cancer: Presented at AHNS

Source: Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) Author: Arushi Sinha Primary surgical treatment does not appear to provide benefits to patients with stage I or II oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, whereas in patients with occult metastases, these procedures offer the opportunity for upstaging and intensification of therapy, according to research presented here at the American Head and Neck Society 7th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer (AHNS). Disease staging helps to determine treatment plans and prognosis in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, so accuracy in staging has definite clinical implications, the researchers noted during their presentation on July 22. To assess the accuracy of staging information, they reviewed the records of 49 patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas, including primary carcinomas of the tonsil (53%), base of tongue (33%), or posterior pharyngeal wall (14%). "When we went back to our results on surgical staging and actually looked at the pathology, some of the tumors were upstaged and some were downstaged," explained Rohan Walvekar, MD, Department of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans Louisiana Dr. Walvekar conducted the study while he was at the University of Pittsburgh Clinical staging data showed that 61% of patients were either stage I or II, and 39% were stage III. With reference to nodal involvement, 58% were N0 and 42% were N1. As part of the initial workup, neck dissections were performed in 46 of the 49 patients. When compared with clinical staging, neck dissection altered nodal status [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-24T14:51:22-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Nervous Tissue Involvement May Predict Progression of Oral Carcinomas: Presented at AHNS

Source: Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) Author: Arushi Sinha Among patients with early-stage squamous cell carcinomas, those with perineural involvement appear to have lower survival rates compared with patients who have no perineural involvement, according to research presented here at the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) 7th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer. While it is known that perineural invasion by the carcinoma has a negative impact on prognosis for squamous cell carcinomas in general, there is less information on the impact for early-stage oral cancers. "With perineural invasion, there is a possibility that even very small tumours can be very aggressive," explained Raquel Moysés, MD, Head and Neck Surgery Department, Sao Paulo University Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The retrospective study, presented in a poster session on July 22, examined the progress of 42 patients diagnosed with early-stage squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue or of the floor of the mouth. The tumours were stage I or II with no nodal involvement (N0). There were 16 patients with perineural invasion and 26 patients without. The average follow-up time was 49 months. Study endpoints included clinical and pathological characteristics as well as an analysis of treatment regimens and outcomes data. When compared with those without perineural involvement, patients with perineural invasion were found to have significantly larger tumour diameter (P = .046) and thickness (P = .002). They also had a higher rate of disease-specific death (P = .015) and lower global survival (P = .019), despite having a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-23T19:22:12-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Unnecessary Biopsies Reduced By Team Work, St. Louis University Researchers Find

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: press release Unnecessary biopsies could be a thing of the past for patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer. New Saint Louis University research found that when nuclear medicine clinicians and treating physicians work together to interpret PET-CT scan results, the accuracy dramatically improves, sparring patients unnecessary pain and suffering. Often used prior to and after cancer treatment, the highly sensitive PET-CT has improved the ability to detect and treat head and neck cancer. However, it can give a significant number of false positive results, which then require a biopsy to rule out cancer that could have been left behind during the initial treatment. According to Mark Varvares, M.D., the study's lead author and the Donald and Marlene Jerome Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at Saint Louis University, both nuclear medicine and treating physicians have become better at interpreting PET-CT scans. "If we improve the accuracy of the scans by including clinical information, the treating physician or cancer specialist will be able to say with confidence that we do not need to biopsy something - that it's just post-operative inflammation." Unnecessary biopsies are dangerous for head and neck cancer patients who have already undergone intensive radiation and chemotherapy. It can create a non-healing situation that can result in a catastrophic event, such as needing to remove the voice box, Varvares explained. Varvares and his colleagues studied the scan results of 180 head and neck cancer patients who had undergone evaluation with PET-CT [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-23T19:12:20-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Presence of Human Papillomavirus Infection Has No Prognostic Value in Tongue Cancer Patients: Presented at AHNS

Source: Doctors Guide (www.docguide.com) Author: Arushi Sinha The presence of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection does not appear to have any prognostic effect in patients treated for base-of-tongue (BoT) cancer, according to research presented here at the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) 7th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer. Investigator Mary Reid, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, presented the findings in a poster session on July 20. According to Dr. Reid, HPV has been shown to be associated with oral and laryngeal carcinomas. Therefore, the research team conducted the study to identify characteristics of patients diagnosed with BoT carcinomas and outcomes in patients with or without HPV infection. The researchers studied patient charts for 87 patients with BoT; the majority of patients comprised Caucasians (93%) and males (87%). The average age of the study cohort was 59 years. Forty-seven percent of the study population were smokers, 29% were former smokers, and 24% had never smoked at the time of diagnosis. In addition, 24% of patients reported heavy alcohol use. Of the group, 98% were diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and 74% had advanced stage IV disease. The researchers identified a smaller subset of 30 patients for whom tissue samples were used to detect the presence of HPV, specifically the HPV 16 strain, using polymerase chain reaction techniques. Twenty of the 30 patients (66%) tested positive for HPV infection. There were similarities among tested and nontested patients with respect to alcohol consumption, race, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-23T19:06:18-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Cranberry and Grape Seed Extracts Inhibit the Proliferative Phenotype of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Source: eCAM Advance Access published online on July 23, 2008 Author: Kourt Chatelain et al. Proanthocyanidins, compounds highly concentrated in dietary fruits, such as cranberries and grapes, demonstrate significant cancer prevention potential against many types of cancer. The objective of this study was to evaluate cranberry and grape seed extracts to quantitate and compare their anti-proliferative effects on the most common type of oral cancer, oral squamous cell carcinoma. Using two well-characterized oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, CAL27 and SCC25, assays were performed to evaluate the effects of cranberry and grape seed extract on phenotypic behaviors of these oral cancers. The proliferation of both oral cancer cell lines was significantly inhibited by the administration of cranberry and grape seed extracts, in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, key regulators of apoptosis, caspase-2 and caspase-8, were concomitantly up-regulated by these treatments. However, cranberry and grape seed extracts elicited differential effects on cell adhesion, cell morphology, and cell cycle regulatory pathways. This study represents one of the first comparative investigations of cranberry and grape seed extracts and their anti-proliferative effects on oral cancers. Previous findings using purified proanthocyanidin from grape seed extract demonstrated more prominent growth inhibition, as well as apoptosis-inducing, properties on CAL27 cells. These observations provide evidence that cranberry and grape seed extracts not only inhibit oral cancer proliferation but also that the mechanism of this inhibition may function by triggering key apoptotic regulators in these cell lines. This information will be of benefit to researchers interested in elucidating which [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-23T07:34:29-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

The Biological Mechanisms of Cancer-Related Skeletal Muscle Wasting: The Role of Progressive Resistance Exercise

Author: Sadeeka Al-Majid, RN, PhD et al. Source: Biological Research For Nursing, Vol. 10, No. 1, 7-20 (2008) Cancer results in perturbations in skeletal muscle protein metabolism leading to muscle wasting. Although severe wasting is seen primarily in persons with advanced malignancies, a number of cancer patients show some degree of wasting at presentation. Although cancer-related skeletal muscle wasting is attributable, in part, to decreased muscle protein synthesis, its primary cause appears to be increased muscle protein degradation. Although several proteolytic systems may be involved, compelling evidence suggests that the major system responsible for skeletal muscle protein degradation in cancer is the ATP-dependent ubiquitin— proteasome system. Other contributing factors include proinflammatory cytokines and the tumor-released proteolysis-inducing factor. Decreased physical activity and decreased nutritional intake may also play a role. Cancer-related skeletal muscle wasting is clinically significant because of its profound effects on functional outcomes and quality of life. Nevertheless, no specific interventions have proved to be effective in preventing or reversing the problem. Interventions such as nutritional supplementation and appetite stimulants are only partially helpful. A nonpharmacologic intervention that may attenuate cancer-related skeletal muscle wasting is progressive resistance exercise training (PRT). PRT is a potent stimulus of growth in muscle mass and strength. PRT may attenuate cancer-related skeletal muscle wasting by downregulating the activity of proinflammatory cytokines and by increasing the phosphorylation of intramuscular amino acid—signaling molecules. This article discusses several cancer-related skeletal muscle wasting mechanisms and proposes how PRT might attenuate muscle wasting by counteracting some of these mechanisms. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-23T07:16:36-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer survivors now volunteer to help those who need support

Source: Aikens Standard (www.aikenstandard.com) Author: Rachel Johnson Four times cancer has struck the same Aiken household, and four times the Flanagans waged war. In August 2007, the unthinkable happened at the Flanagan home. While shaving one morning, Bill Flanagan's hands stumbled across a lump in his throat area. Having battled cancer in the past, his suspicions were raised. Initially, his wife and doctors thought the problem was a simple inflammation; however, when tests came back, the problem was not so simple. The couple canceled vacation plans, and Bill underwent a series of tests and a biopsy. Despite the diagnosis of stage 4 throat cancer, he was lucky. "I found mine accidentally. It was a little sore. Throat cancer is not usually found until the symptoms are too bad," said Bill Flanagan from his Aiken home. The outlook for Flanagan was bleak. A lover of fine cuisine, he faced feeding tubes, a tracheotomy and loss of voice. Doctors wanted to perform surgery to remove the tumor, and his fate almost certainly included the aforementioned. At 75 years of age, Flanagan knew one thing, he would in time die; but he was not willing to sacrifice his quality of life. "I set the perimeters - no feeding tube, no tracheotomy and no voice loss. I would've rather died from the cancer than lose my quality of life," he said with conviction. Flanagan and his wife of 33 years, Crystal, are no strangers to battling cancer. Crystal is a breast cancer and ovarian [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-07-26T14:44:30-07:00July, 2008|Oral Cancer News|