Oral Cancer News – Page 88 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Reno Rodeo: Cody Kiser ‘The luckiest guy in the world’

Source: www.rgj.comAuthor: Jordan Wines 2016 Reno Rodeo competitor Cody Kiser has been competing in rodeos from the time he could walk. He began his career riding sheep and roping dummy heads on hay bales. As he grew, so did his competitive spirit. Kiser began riding bulls, but suffered an injury early in his career. "I had a bull step on my face, and I broke all the bones in the left side of my face," Kiser said. "I broke my jaw in two places and had my jaw wired shut. I had to get plastic surgery on my face to get it put back together." After recovering, Kiser began riding bucking horses, bareback specifically. He continued to compete while attending college at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he completed his degree in civil engineering. Splitting time between school and his life on the rodeo circuit presented its own set of challenges. "I did college rodeo for about two years, and I loved it. It just became way too much doing rodeo and school. I would put all my effort into schoolwork during the semester, and then would try to hit a couple of rodeos during school. During summer, I wouldn't take any classes, and I would hit the rodeo as hard as I could, which was still difficult because I had internships and jobs over the summer." Riding bareback is more than just an event for Kiser, as his father also rode bareback competitively, and Kiser still uses some of the same [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-20T11:56:24-07:00June, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Number of circulating tumor cells up after surgery in SCCHN

Source: www.doctorslounge.com Author: staff Most patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) have an increase in the number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) after surgical resection, according to a study published online June 5 in Head & Neck. Kris R. Jatana, M.D., from the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and colleagues identified cytokeratin-positive CTCs using a negative depletion technique. They compared the numbers of CTCs immediately before and after surgical resection using blood samples from 38 patients with SCCHN. The researchers found that 79 percent of patients had CTCs before and after surgery. Overall, 7.89 percent of patients had no CTCs before surgery but did have CTCs after surgery. After surgery there was an increased number of CTCs/mL in 60.5 percent of patients, with a 6.63-fold mean increase (P = 0.02). "The timing of blood sample collection for such solid cancers that undergo surgical intervention, such as SCCHN, can potentially impact the number of CTCs identified," the authors write. "Although a prognostic blood test for CTCs could have important treatment and surveillance implications, the viability and clinical significance of potentially surgically released CTCs in SCCHN is still not known."

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-06-18T08:23:27-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Aspen Dental Practices Donate More Than $20,000 To The Oral Cancer Foundation For Oral Cancer Awareness Month

Source: www.pharmiweb.com.orgAuthor: Aspen Dental SYRACUSE, N.Y., May 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspen Dental–branded practices will donate $22,375 to The Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF) as part of a program that contributed $5 for each ViziLite® oral cancer screening conducted during April for Oral Cancer Awareness Month. In total, more than 4,000 patients were screened across more than 550 practices in 33 states. Since 2010, Aspen Dental-branded practices have donated more than $105,000 to OCF. "Approximately 48,250 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with an oral or oropharyngeal cancer this year; and of those only about 57% will be alive in five years," said Natalie Riggs, Director of Special Projects for The Oral Cancer Foundation. In 2016 we estimate that 9500 individuals will lose their lives to oral cancers and we are grateful for the support from Aspen Dental practices in helping us raise awareness and aiding in our efforts to fight this disease." Oral cancer is frequently preceded by visible pre-malignant lesions and can be diagnosed at a much earlier stage (I or II) with ViziLite® Plus, a specially designed light technology. When caught early and treated, the survival rate is 80 to 90 percent. "We're working to educate our patients about the risk factors, warning signs and symptoms associated with oral cancer so that we can help them catch the disease before it progresses," said Dr. Murali Lakireddy, a general dentist who owns Aspen Dental offices in Ohio. "Many of our patients do not think about oral cancer when they go to [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-16T10:28:42-07:00June, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Nivolumab Demonstrated Survival Benefit, Good Tolerance in Refractory HNSCC

Source: www.asco.orgAuthor: Tim Donald, ELS In the phase III comparative CheckMate 141 trial, nivolumab demonstrated a “significant improval in survival” in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), compared with therapy of the investigator’s choice, according to Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, FACS, of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (Abstract 6009). There were fewer treatment-related adverse events with the PD-1 inhibitor than with investigator’s choice therapy, Dr. Ferris said, and nivolumab stabilized patient-reported quality-of-life outcome measures, whereas the investigator’s choice therapy led to meaningful declines in function and worsening of symptoms. Dr. Robert L. Ferris “Nivolumab is a new standard-of-care option for patients with refractory or metastatic HNSCC after platinum-based therapy,” Dr. Ferris said. Dr. Ferris presented the trial results at the “Harnessing the Immune System in Head and Neck Cancer: Evolving Standards in Metastatic Disease” Clinical Science Symposium on June 6. He noted that in this trial of patients whose disease had progressed after platinum-based therapy, nivolumab doubled the 1-year overall survival (OS) rate, with 36.0% OS for the immunotherapeutic drug compared with 16.6% for the investigator’s choice therapy. These top-line results were presented at the 2016 American Association of Cancer Research meeting1; Dr. Ferris presented data the additional endpoints of quality of life, correlative biomarkers, and safety. There is an extremely poor prognosis for patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic HNSCC, with median OS of 6 months or fewer. Previous research, by Dr. Ferris and others, has shown that HNSCC can express T-cell [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-07T16:35:54-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Heading back to the office following head and neck cancer

Source: blogs.biomedcentral.com Author: Daniel Caley In Cancers of the Head & Neck launching today publishes the first study looking at disability and employment outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer related to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Dr Shrujal Baxi, Section Editor for survivorship and patient related outcomes and author of this study, explains more about their work in this Q&A: The rates of patients diagnosed with HPV-related head and neck cancer is rising annually. By 2020, there will be more cases of HPV-related head and neck cancer than HPV-related cervical cancer in the United States. Numerous studies have shown that most patients with this diagnosis are likely to be cured of their disease, placing an increased emphasis on quality of life and non-cancer outcomes in this population of survivors. The majority of patients diagnosed with HPV-related head and neck cancer are working-age adults and employment is a serious issue both financially and psychologically. How can treatment for head and neck cancer impact employment? Treatment for head and neck cancer often involves a combination of chemotherapy and radiation given over a six to seven week period, often known as concurrent chemoradiation or combined modality chemoradiation. This process is considered toxic and can impact a patient’s ability to function normally including speaking, chewing, breathing and swallowing. Many patients require numerous supportive medications to get through treatment including narcotics for pain and anti-nausea medications. Patients can lose on average 10-15% of their weight within a few months and can suffer from severe [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-06-05T09:53:53-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Type 2 diabetes drug could be beneficial for head and neck cancer patients

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: press release Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine have found that adding increasing doses of an approved Type 2 diabetes drug, metformin, to a chemotherapy and radiation treatment regimen in head and neck cancer patients is not well tolerated if escalated too quickly, but allowing slower escalation could be beneficial. These findings are being presented via poster June 4 at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting: Collective Wisdom, being held June 3-7 in Chicago. Trisha Wise-Draper, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Hematology Oncology at the UC College of Medicine, a member of both the Cincinnati Cancer Center and UC Cancer Institute and principal investigator on this study, says retrospective studies have shown improved outcomes in tumors treated with chemotherapy and radiation if they were also on metformin for diabetes. "In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, which develops in the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and throat, diabetic patients taking a medication called metformin had better overall survival compared to those not on metformin when also treated with chemotherapy and radiation," she says. "Additionally, pancreatic cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and metformin required higher doses of metformin--1,000 milligrams twice a day--to experience positive results. "In basic science studies, metformin has been shown to stop mTOR, a molecular pathway present and active in this type of head and neck cancer, and pretreatment with metformin resulted in a decrease in the occurrence of oral cavity tumors in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-06-05T09:30:41-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

HPV is changing the face of head and neck cancers

Source: www.healio.comAuthor: Christine Cona A drastic increase in the number of HPV-associated oropharynx cancers, particularly those of the tonsil and base of tongue, has captured the attention of head and neck oncologists worldwide. In February, at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Chandler, Ariz., Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, professor and Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University in Columbus, presented data that showed that the proportion of all head and neck squamous cell cancers that were of the oropharynx — which are most commonly HPV-positive cancers — increased from 18% in 1973 to 32% in 2005. Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University, said screening for HPV in the head and neck is years behind cervical screening for HPV. In addition, studies from the United States, Europe, Denmark and Australia indicate that HPV-positive patients have a more than twofold increased cancer survival than HPV-negative patients, according to Gillison. With the rising incidence of HPV-related oropharynx cancers, it will soon be the predominant type of cancer in the oral or head and neck region, according to Andy Trotti, MD, director of radiation oncology clinical research, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, in Tampa, Fla. “We should be focusing on HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer because it will dominate the field of head and neck cancers for many years,” he said during an interview with HemOnc Today. “It is certainly an important population for which to continue to [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-03T11:11:05-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Frontline Cancer: vaccines for HPV near guarantee

Source: www.lajollalight.com Author: Dr. Scott Lippman Dear Scott: “Our son, who is 25, went to the GP yesterday and his doc wasn’t sure about giving the Gardasil I had been bugging him to get. Didn’t you tell me about the benefits of the HPV vaccination?” The note was from a friend. It was personal, but also a topic of wide public interest and one that remains much discussed among cancer researchers and physicians. That’s why I’m answering my friend here. Roughly 12 percent of all human cancers worldwide — more than 1 million cases per year — are caused by viral infections (called oncoviruses) and attributed to a relatively small number of pathogens: human papilloma virus (HPV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Given the emphasis upon other causal factors of cancer, such as genetic mutations or environmental sources, it’s a statistic that’s not well known nor, I would argue, fully appreciated. Human viral oncogenesis is complex, and only a small percentage of the infected individuals develop cancer, but that 12 percent translates into more than 500,000 lives lost each year to virus-caused malignancies. Many of those deaths are preventable because effective vaccines already exist for HPV and HBV. Right now. No future discoveries required. I want to specifically talk about the HPV vaccine. Controversy has constrained its proven effectiveness as a public health tool, but if used as prescribed, the HPV vaccine could essentially eliminate cervical and other HPV-caused cancers. Infection with HPV [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-05-26T08:54:23-07:00May, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo rider raising awareness of chewing tobacco and oral cancer

Source: www.krcrtv.comAuthor: Danielle Radin REDDING, Calif. - The Redding Rodeo kicked off Wednesday night with events like barrel racing, cattle roping and mutton busting. Professional barrel racer, Carly Twisselman said chewing tobacco is prominent at rodeos. She's teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation to try to change that. "We want to show children that you can follow your dreams, be who you want to be, pursue being a rodeo athlete and not chew tobacco," said Twisselman. Twisselman competes in rodeos across the country and sees chewing tobacco time and time again. She's teaching children chewing tobacco is not the 'cool thing to do.' She also wears letting on her sleeves every race that reads, "Be smart, don't start." She also has a brother who chews and had a health scare from it. "My brother's had signs of cancer of the mouth from chewing," said Twisselman. " "I just think that's the wrong message we should be sending to this children." According to the oral cancer foundation, there will be about 48,000 new cases of oral cancer in 2016 in the United States. 75 percent of all oral cancer patients use tobacco. They estimate nearly 10,000 people in the United States will die from oral cancer in 2016.

Charlotte Parker2016-05-19T11:39:43-07:00May, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

In an era of rapidly proliferating, precisely targeted treatments, every cancer case has to be played by ear.

Source: www.nytimes.comAuthor: Sidhartha Mukherjee Illustration by Cristiana Couceiro. Photograph by Ansel Adams, via the National Archives, College Park, Md. The bone-marrow biopsy took about 20 minutes. It was 10 o’clock on an unusually chilly morning in New York in April, and Donna M., a self-possessed 78-year-old woman, had flown in from Chicago to see me in my office at Columbia University Medical Center. She had treated herself to orchestra seats for “The Humans” the night before, and was now waiting in the room as no one should be asked to wait: pants down, spine curled, knees lifted to her chest — a grown woman curled like a fetus. I snapped on sterile gloves while the nurse pulled out a bar cart containing a steel needle the length of an index finger. The rim of Donna’s pelvic bone was numbed with a pulse of anesthetic, and I drove the needle, as gently as I could, into the outer furl of bone. A corkscrew of pain spiraled through her body as the marrow was pulled, and then a few milliliters of red, bone-flecked sludge filled the syringe. It was slightly viscous, halfway between liquid and gel, like the crushed pulp of an overripe strawberry. I had been treating Donna in collaboration with my colleague Azra Raza for six years. Donna has a preleukemic syndrome called myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, which affects the bone marrow and blood. It is a mysterious disease with few known treatments. Human bone marrow is normally a [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-05-16T16:34:05-07:00May, 2016|Oral Cancer News|