New Device From LED Dental May Allow Earlier Detection of Oral Cancer
4/16/2007 New Rochelle, NY press release Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (ww.genengnews.com) The Food and Drug Administration recently gave LED Dental Inc. clearance to use its VELscope Oral Cancer Screening System to assist dentists in detecting cancerous growths that may be missed with traditional examinations, and also help surgeons ensure that all diseased tissue is successfully removed when excising cancerous lesions. This approval is based on studies conducted by scientists at the British Columbia Cancer Agency. The studies reported cases that demonstrated VELscope's ability to facilitate the detection of lesions that were not visible by an expert under conventional white light visualization. Oral Cancer: The Forgotten Disease Oral cancer is one of the few forms of cancer that have not experienced a significantly decreased mortality rate in the past 30 years. Deaths from oral cancer are higher than from cervical, testicular, laryngeal or thyroid cancer. It is estimated that over 34,000 Americans will develop oral cancer in 2007, and that only about half of them will be alive in five years. One American dies of this disease every hour of every day. The traditional profile of an oral cancer victim is that of a heavy user of tobacco and alcohol who is at least 40 years old. However, the number of victims who do not fit this profile has been growing at an alarming rate in recent years. One reason may be the growth in the occurrence of the human papilloma virus (HPV), one strain of which is now thought [...]