7/23/2002 Paris, France A new anti-smoking campaign in France hopes to shock smokers into kicking the habit - using real-life images of a man dying of lung cancer. The health warning, which screened on television for the first time Monday, depicts an emaciated 49-year-old man sitting on his bed, five days before his death. "This is just a smoker, who started at 14, when you think you're immortal," says a voice on the 27-second film. "He could never stop." Images of the man's life appear on his bedroom wall throughout the film, which ends with a warning: "Starting at 14 is fatal." The man shown, Richard Gourlain, had his wife film him hoping the footage could be used to discourage others from smoking, said Gerard Dubois, president of the National Anti-Smoking Committee that produced the film. Gourlain died in 1999. "You can say it's sensational, it's too tough - but we wanted to show the truth," said Dubois. "These images correspond to reality." The French committee decided to use shock tactics having seen the success of reality-based anti-smoking campaigns in Anglo-Saxon countries, he said. "The tobacco industry lies to promote its products - all we have to do to destroy them is tell the truth," he said. Another anti-smoking campaign screened on television and printed in newspapers last month alarmed many smokers. The warning said a commonly consumed product had been found to contain toxic substances. It invited people to phone a toll-free number for information. Half-a-million people called, and [...]

7/21/2002 Maryland Nancy Volkers InteliHealth News Service Family physicians are aware of the risks for oral cancer, but some don't ask their patients about risky behaviors and most don't complete oral exams that could detect early cancer. Researchers at the federal government's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research surveyed 240 Maryland physicians about their knowledge and practices related to oral cancer. They found that 77 percent of the physicians asked patients questions about their risk factors, but only 24 percent provided oral cancer exams to their patients aged 40 and older. (Most cases of oral cancer are found in people over 40.) More than 60 percent of the surveyed physicians said they would be interested in a continuing education course on oral cancer. The study was published in the July issue of Oral Oncology. Oral cancer makes up about 3 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the United States, but it is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. The two main risk factors are heavy alcohol use and use of tobacco products. More than half of oral cancers are not detected until advanced stages, when a cure is less likely. Dentists regularly check for signs of oral cancer when they see patients, so regular visits to a dentist can help ensure that oral cancer is caught when it can be treated successfully. OCF Note: We disagree with the last paragraph of this news article. In our own focus groups of the dental community we have found this to not [...]

7/2/2002 British Columbia Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News For the first time, researchers say they've found a drug that can actually reduce the risk of lung cancer in both former and current smokers. Stephen Lam, MD, of the British Columbia Cancer Agency, and colleagues found that a drug originally used to treat dry mouth -- known as anethole dithiolethione or ADT (sold under the names Sialor or Sulfarlem) -- may effectively prevent lung cancer in some people at risk. Their study followed 101 current and former smokers who had an irregular growth in their lungs and were at high risk for developing lung cancer. After six months, those who'd taken ADT three times a day had about half the number of growths become cancerous, and developed fewer new growths, than did those who took a placebo. The findings appear in the July 3 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study authors suggest that the drug works like an antioxidant -- seeking out cancer-causing free radicals and destroying them. The best way to reduce lung cancer risk is to never start smoking, or to quit if you've already picked up the habit. But even in those who've quit, the increased risk of lung cancer never completely disappears. That's why researchers say it's important to find some sort of drug therapy to reduce the risk of lung cancer in former smokers. "When people give up smoking late in life, the risk of lung cancer does not go away," [...]

6/24/2002 University of Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh researchers have found the combined PET/CT scanner is the most powerful imaging tool available for localizing, evaluating and therapeutic monitoring of head and neck cancer and may be equally useful for other cancers that are difficult to pinpoint. Results of a study showing PET/CT has a distinct advantage over PET or CT alone were presented today at the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. According to the researchers, the prototype of the combined PET/CT machine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is able to effectively localize cancerous activity in the head and neck, an area of the body that presents substantial challenges to other imaging methods because of densely packed tissue structures and the frequent involvement of lymph nodes. Separately, computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) do not provide images with the necessary combination of clear structural definition and metabolic activity that is achieved with the PET/CT. "The PET/CT tells us the exact size, shape and location of the cancer and provides a specific target for surgery or other treatment," said Carolyn Cidis Meltzer, M.D., associate professor of radiology and psychiatry and medical director of the UPMC PET Facility. "The PET/CT can also be used to help us develop the best course of treatment for an individual, then monitor that individual's progress during treatment." Head and neck cancers often have already involved lymph nodes when first discovered and can spread rapidly if they are not found and treated [...]

6/12/2002 Miami, FL Catherine Wilson Associated Press A jury ordered three cigarette makers Tuesday to pay $37.5 million in damages to a lawyer who lost his tongue to cancer. John Lukacs blamed his 30 years of smoking up to three packs a day for his oral and bladder cancer. Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group claimed his 20 cancer-free years after he quit smoking pointed to another cause. The jury deliberated less than eight hours before awarding Lukacs the amount of compensatory damages suggested by his attorneys. Philip Gerson, one of Lukacs' lawyers, said the 76-year-old Miami real-estate lawyer and former Navy fighter pilot won't live long enough to see any money from his courtroom victory. "He knows he will never see any of this money," Gerson said. Miles McGrane, another lawyer in the case and Lukacs' son-in-law, said, "We'd give every penny back for another year for him." Lukacs' attorneys said he was sobbing when they telephoned him with word of the verdict. The two-week trial on compensatory damages covered actual medical expenses as well as intangibles, including pain and suffering, for Lukacs and his wife, Yolanda. The case was an outgrowth of a $145 billion punitive-damage award issued in a class-action suit covering all sick Florida smokers two years ago. That verdict is nearing its first appeal hearing. William Ohlemeyer, associate general counsel for Philip Morris Cos., said Lukacs' case should not have gone to trial while the tobacco industry is appealing the earlier verdict. "I [...]

6/6/2002 Chicago, IL American Cancer Society / Cancer 2002;94:2981-8 Carcinoma of the oral cavity is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Tobacco smoking and the consumption of alcoholic beverages are significant risk factors but to the authors' knowledge the role of nutrition is not adequately understood. The authors undertook an epidemiologic study of oral carcinoma occurring in Greece, where tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption are common but the incidence of the disease is among the lowest reported in Europe. Methods One hundred six patients with histologically confirmed incident oral carcinoma and an equal number of control subjects matched for age and gender were studied. Dietary information was assessed through a validated extensive food frequency questionnaire and the data were analyzed using conditional logistic regression. Results After adjustment for energy intake, tobacco smoking, and alcohol consumption, there was evidence that the consumption of cereals, fruits, dairy products, and added lipids (which in Greece are represented mostly by olive oil) was found to be associated inversely with the risk of oral carcinoma. Only with respect to meat and meat products was there adequate evidence of a positive association with the risk of oral carcinoma. Among the micronutrients studied, riboflavin, magnesium, and iron appeared to be correlated inversely with the disease. Conclusions Fruits, cereals, dairy products, and olive oil appear to convey protection against oral carcinoma and their effects may be mediated through higher intakes of riboflavin, iron, and magnesium. The low incidence of oral carcinoma reported in Greece may be explained [...]

5/3/2002 Michigan Sonia Duffy, Ph.D., R.N. Center for the Advancement of Health Even a bout with head and neck cancer cannot stop some people from smoking, despite many indicating that they want to quit, according to a new study. Head and neck cancer patients who continue to smoke also score substantially lower on measures of quality of life than those who have kicked the habit, according to the study published in the April issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry. "Despite the known risk of continued smoking in patients with head and neck cancer, over one-quarter of the head and neck cancer patients continued to smoke; most of them smoked more than half a pack per day," says lead author Sonia Duffy, Ph.D., R.N., of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the University of Michigan. The American Cancer Society estimates that there were more than 30,000 new cases of head and neck cancers last year. Eighty-five percent of cases are associated with tobacco use, according to government statistics. The researchers recruited 81 non-terminal head and neck cancer patients, most of whom were white and male, from the VA and university hospital. They answered questionnaires on smoking, drinking and depression as well as quality of life. The study revealed that 23 percent of the patients were current smokers and 35 percent had smoked in the past six months. The study also found that nearly half of the patients (46 percent) continued to drink alcohol, although the combination of smoking and [...]

4/15/2002 Atlanta AP Each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the nation $7 in medical care and lost productivity, the government said Thursday. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta put the nation's total cost of smoking at $3,391 a year for every smoker, or #157.7 billion. Health experts had previously estimated $96 billion. Americans buy about 22 billion packs of cigarettes annually. The CDC study is the first to establish a per-pack cost to the nation. The agency estimated the nation's smoking-related medical costs at $3.45 per pack, and said job productivity lost because of premature death from smoking amounted to $3.73 per pack, for a total of $7.18. "There's a big difference in the cost to society and what society is getting back in tax," said the CDC's Dr. Terry Pechacek. "We believe society is bearing a burden for the individual behavioral choices of the smokers." The CDC said is analyzed expenses, both personal and for the health-care industry, and used national medical surveys to calculate the costs to the nation. The agency also reported that smoking results in about 440,000 deaths a year in the United States, up from the government's previous figure of 430,000, established in the early 1990's. The new study was conducted from 1995 to 1999. A spokesman for tobacco giant Brown & Williamson objected that the study presents the figures in a vacuum, without comparing smoking to the financial burdens other people-nonsmokers with diabetes, for [...]

4/9/2002 San Francisco American Association for Cancer Research Recurrent head and neck cancer patients receiving higher dose of ADVEXIN® gene therapy in one study had a significant survival advantage when compared to a group of patients in another study receiving a lower dose of the drug, according to the results of two Phase 2 studies presented today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Study results show that, for the first five months of the trial, patients in the ADVEXIN high-dose study were 50 percent more likely to live than those in the low-dose study. ADVEXIN, which combines a proprietary adenoviral vector with the p53 gene, is the lead product candidate of Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: INGN). "We are extremely encouraged by these results demonstrating a significant survival advantage in patients who received a high dose of ADVEXIN," said Max W. Talbott, Ph.D., Introgen's senior vice president of worldwide commercial development. "There have been drugs approved to treat cancer that demonstrated a less beneficial survival advantage in clinical trials." Patients receiving high-dose ADVEXIN had a median survival advantage 2.4 months longer (189 days vs. 114 days) than those receiving a low-dose treatment with the drug. Dosing in the low-dose study was 50 times lower than dosing in the high-dose trial. Dosing in the high-dose trial was consistent with dosing in Introgen's current phase 3 studies of ADVEXIN in the treatment of head and neck cancer. Data from the same studies also show a 60 percent improvement [...]

4/8/2002 Washington DC Reuters A genetically engineered virus designed to home in on and kill cancer cells may be safe to test in patients whose cancer has spread, researchers said on Monday. The latest in a series of experiments using Onyx-015, a cold virus altered so that it infects and kills only cancer cells and leaves healthy cells alone, produced positive results on liver cancer, the researchers said. Richmond, California-based Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. has been testing the virus for several years, using a variety of novel approaches such as putting it into a mouthwash to treat oral cancer and injecting it into tumors. In the latest experiment they infused the virus into the livers of patients whose cancers had spread there. "Rather than injecting it directly into the tumor using a syringe and needle, where it might not get distributed evenly, we injected it into the artery, so that the flow of blood carries it throughout the liver," Dr. Daniel Sze of Stanford University Medical Center in California, who helped lead the study, said in a telephone interview. The phase I study was meant only to test the safety of the approach, and Sze told a meeting in Baltimore of the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology it seemed safe. They tested 35 patients whose gastrointestinal cancer, mostly colon cancer, had spread into the liver. None could be cured by surgery and chemotherapy had stopped working for them, so they were dying of their cancer. Not only was the treatment [...]