biopsy

Chicago ENT head and neck surgeons using VELscope Vx to enhance oral cancer surgery success rate

Source: www.menafn.com Author: press release LED Medical Diagnostics Inc. subsidiary LEDDental announced today that its VELscope Vx enhanced oral assessmentdevice will now be used by Chicago Otolaryngology Associates for oralmucosal abnormality assessment and when performing surgery on oral cancer patients. According to Chicago Otolaryngology Associates' Howard Kotler, MD,FACS, "We pride ourselves on embracing state-of-the-art technologies that allow us to provide the best patient care possible. The VELscopeVx may significantly enhance our ability to see the entire cancerous or precancerous lesion that needs to be excised, allowing us to minimize risk of additional unnecessary surgery." The VELscope Vx's fluorescence visualization technology is the first approved by the FDA and Health Canada to help surgeons determine the surgical margins when excising cancerous and precancerous tissues. The technology is also approved to help dental and medical professionals discover cancerous and precancerous tissue that might not be apparent to the unaided eye. The vast majority of the nearly 12,000 VELscope devices in use around the world are used by dental practices. Typically, when a suspicious lesion is detected by a dentist, the patient is referred to an oral surgeon or a periodontist for a surgical biopsy, which is then evaluated by an oral pathologist. If the biopsy sample is determined to be cancerous or precancerous, the patient is usually referred to an ENT head and neck surgeon for consultation and likely excision. VELscope technology was developed to address the problem of detecting all abnormal tissue, including that beneath the surface, as well as making [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-01-10T09:25:49-07:00January, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

New gene test detects early mouth cancer risk

Source: www.health.am Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have developed a new gene test that can detect pre-cancerous cells in patients with benign-looking mouth lesions. The test could potentially allow at-risk patients to receive earlier treatment, significantly improving their chance of survival. The study, published online in the International Journal of Cancer, showed that the quantitative Malignancy Index Diagnostic System (qMIDS) test had a cancer detection rate of 91-94 per cent when used on more than 350 head and neck tissue specimens from 299 patients in the UK and Norway. Mouth cancer affects more than 6,200 people in the UK each year and more than half a million people worldwide, with global figures estimated to rise above one million a year by 2030*. The majority of cases are caused by either smoking or chewing tobacco and drinking alcohol. Mouth lesions are very common and only five to 30 per cent may turn into cancers. If detected in the early stages treatment can be curative, but until now no test has been able to accurately detect which lesions will become cancerous. The current diagnostic gold standard is histopathology – where biopsy tissue taken during an operation is examined under a microscope by a pathologist . This is a relatively invasive procedure and many mouth cancers are being diagnosed at later stages when the chances of survival are significantly reduced. For patients presenting with advanced disease, survival rates are poor (10-30 per cent at five years). Lead investigator and inventor of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-10-04T13:58:21-07:00October, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Growing ‘mini tumors’ from patient’s cancer could lead to custom treatments

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com Author: Marilynn Marchione It's a medical nightmare: a 24-year-old man endures 350 surgeries since childhood to remove growths that keep coming back in his throat and have spread to his lungs, threatening his life. Now doctors have found a way to help him by way of a scientific coup that holds promise for millions of cancer patients. The bizarre case is the first use in a patient of a new discovery: how to keep ordinary and cancerous cells alive indefinitely in the lab. The discovery allows doctors to grow "mini tumors" from each patient's cancer in a lab dish, then test various drugs or combinations on them to see which works best. It takes only a few cells from a biopsy and less than two weeks to do, with materials and methods common in most hospitals. Although the approach needs much more testing against many different types of cancer, researchers think it could offer a cheap, simple way to personalize treatment without having to analyze each patient's genes. "We see a lot of potential for it," said one study leader, Dr. Richard Schlegel, pathology chief at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington. "Almost everyone could do it easily." An independent expert agreed. For infections, it's routine to grow bacteria from a patient in lab dishes to see which antibiotics work best, Dr. George Q. Daley of Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute said in an email. "But this has never been possible with cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-09-28T07:16:28-07:00September, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Handheld probe shows promise for oral cancer detection

Source: phys.org Author: staff A team of American researchers have created a portable, miniature microscope in the hope of reducing the time taken to diagnose oral cancer. The probe, which is around 20 cm long and 1 cm wide at its tip, could be used by doctors to diagnose oral cancer in real-time or as a surgical guidance tool; dentists could also use it to screen for early-stage cancer cells. The probe has been presented today in IOP Publishing's Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, and has shown good agreement with images of oral cancers obtained using conventional, much slower techniques at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio, TX. Historically, the death rate associated with oral cancer is particularly high; not because it is hard to discover or diagnose, but due to the cancer being routinely discovered late in its development. Lead author of the study Dr John X J Zhang at the University of Texas at Austin said: "Today, that statement is still true, as there isn't a comprehensive programme in the US to opportunistically screen for the disease; without that, late stage discovery is more common." The probe uses a laser to illuminate areas of the sample and can view beneath the surface of tissue, creating full 3D images. It can also take a series of images and layer them on top of each other, much like the tiling of a mosaic, giving a large overall field-of-view. The key component of the probe is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-04-27T13:56:25-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

“Lab on a chip” technique may be able to detect oral cancer

Source: http://www.dental-tribune.com/ Author: Dental Tribune International staff Researchers from British University of Sheffield, and Rice University in Houston, Texas, are conducting a clinical trial on a revolutionary technique for diagnosing oral cancer more quickly and effectively. The “lab on a chip” device could be used by a dentist to determine whether a patient has oral cancer or other abnormalities in less than 20 minutes. Over the past 18 months, 275 patients have taken part in a trial of the device in order to detect oral cancer in suspicious lesions. The traditional procedure involves using a scalpel to perform a biopsy and off-site laboratory tests that can be time-consuming. The new procedure involves removing cells with a brush, placing them on a chip and inserting the chip into an analyser, which yields a result in a matter of minutes. This offers a number of benefits, including reduced waiting times and patient visits. Patients are currently being tested with the new device, which is being compared to the standard biopsy procedure to test its accuracy and reliability. Martin Thornhill, Professor of Oral Medicine at the University of Sheffield and Honorary Consultant in Oral Medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This new technology is an exciting development in the search for quicker and more effective diagnosis of oral cancer. The current procedure we have for making a diagnosis—taking a biopsy—can take a week or more to produce results and can involve extra visits from patients. With our new [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-04-18T20:14:30-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Grant Achatz Drops Malpractice Suits After Four-Year Battle

Source: Crain's Chicago Business Renowned chef Grant Achatz, whose successful battle with tongue cancer added an unusual twist to his story, has dropped his medical malpractice lawsuits filed against Chicago dentists. Mr. Achatz sued two dentists and their practices in April 2008 in Cook County Circuit Court for negligence. He claimed neither took the steps necessary to diagnose his cancer. He sought damages in excess of $50,000 plus court costs. The last of the suits, one filed against Dr. Loveline Dulay and her Wilmette practice, was dismissed Wednesday, according to another defendant's attorney. The medical malpractice trial had already started with jury selection under way, the attorney said. Mr. Achatz's attorney, Chuck Hornewer of Phillips Law Offices of Chicago, declined to comment. Mr. Achatz and his business partner Nick Kokonas opened Alinea in 2005. While it was accumulating accolades from around the country (and eventually from around the world), Mr. Achatz noticed a painful lesion on his tongue. In November 2005 he visited Dr. Dulay, who did not order a biopsy, a decision that Mr. Achatz said was negligent, according to his original complaint. In July 2006, he visited Dr. Michelle Schwartz at Bucktown Wicker Park Dental Associates, who also did not order a biopsy. Mr. Achatz believed she was also negligent, according to the original complaint. By 2007, he was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer, and doctors found the cancer metastasized to his neck. He took part in a University of Chicago clinical trial that used radiation and [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-22T15:24:48-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

To see or not to see

Source: http://www.rdhmag.com/ Author: JoAnn R. Gurenlian From the National Journal fro Dental Hygiene Professionals: Allow me to relay the experience of a patient who has been through trying times lately. The patient is a middle-age female who noticed a small, firm swelling in the right submandibular region. She had never experienced this type of problem before, but since she had an upcoming visit with her family physician, she thought she would mention it. Her family provider told her it appeared to be a swollen lymph node and recommended she schedule an appointment with her dentist in the event that she had an oral infection. Being conscientious about health issues, this patient did have an examination with her dentist. He advised her that it was a swollen lymph node, but that there were no apparent oral health infections. He reviewed causes of swollen lymph nodes and felt that since she was asymptomatic; the node simply represented residual effects from a cold or allergy condition. Over the course of the next year, this patient presented on several occasions to both her family physician and dentist with concerns that the lymph node was getting larger. Both health care providers told her to “forget about it,” or “it was nothing.” She felt uncertain about both individuals at this point, but since they seemed to be in agreement that her condition “was nothing,” she heeded their advice. After several more months and with ever growing concern, the patient presented to her dentist again for further [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-02-19T11:00:56-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Cancer Prevention international lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson claims actions expected to cause over 7,300 oral cancers

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: press release A lawsuit filed by Oral Cancer Prevention International (OCPI) against Johnson & Johnson in Federal Court in Trenton New Jersey claims that J&J's actions to protect the reputation of its Listerine mouthwash, which has been linked to oral cancer, can be expected to result in over 7,300 cases of otherwise preventable oral cancer across the US and over 1,120 such cancers in New York State alone. Some of the key markets impacted include: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. "Oral cancer kills as many Americans as melanoma and twice as many as cervical cancer," says Mark Rutenberg, CEO of OCPI. "It is also rising sharply among women, young people and non-smokers. Because there has previously not been an easy way to test routine oral spots for precancerous cells, the disease is generally not detected until it is an already invasive cancer with a high mortality rate that has changed little in the last 50 years." The lawsuit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages, claims that J&J blocked an agreement between OCPI and a then J&J subsidiary to sell its test for oral precancer. The lawsuit claims that J&J was concerned that such sales could draw attention in the $1B US Listerine market to recent studies suggesting that the mouthwash may be linked to oral cancer. J&J was particularly concerned about a 2008 study in the Australian Dental Journal -- which concluded that mouthwashes with high alcohol content could [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T07:08:35-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer: How discovery devices assist screenings

Source: www.dentistryiq.com Author: Nick Efthimiadis, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, LED Dental Inc. As the intense media attention surrounding Michael Douglas’s illness clearly demonstrated, oral cancer is increasingly in the news these days. With the unfortunate growth in the number of relatively young people contracting the disease due to exposure to the sexually-transmitted human papilla virus — specifically, the HPV-16 strain — oral cancer will only become a bigger concern for both patients and dental practices over time. In fact, the Oral Cancer Foundation recently announced that HPV-16 has now replaced tobacco as the leading cause of this disease. Sadly, one North American dies every hour of every day from oral cancer, and many of those who survive the disease are forced to deal with lengthy, painful treatment and permanent disfigurement. The main problem is that oral cancer is typically discovered in late stages, when the five-year survival rate is only around 30%. The good news: when discovered early, the survival rate leaps to 80%-to-90%. The key to early discovery is the dental practice. Ideally, each and every practice should be conducting a two-step oral cancer screening on all adult patients as part of their annual or semi-annual hygiene checkup. The first step consists of a conventional “white light” exam comprising visual inspection and palpation. The second step consists of examination with an adjunctive screening device. Fortunately, the two steps should take no more than five minutes combined. For the past several years, the adjunctive device that has [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-10T17:42:46-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

PMI Labs lowers price of oral cancer brush biopsy test

Source: www.marketwire.com/ Author: press release PMI Labs is excited to announce that the price of OralAdvance™, the Company's innovative test designed to detect early stage oral cancer, is lowered by 35% as a result of the completion of the next generation quantitative cytology analysis platform, ClearCyte™. The redesigned and reengineered ClearCyte™ platform allows for faster processing time, increased scalability and improved overall performance. The per-slide scanning time of the machine has been reduced by more than 65% delivering a yearly scanning capacity of over 40,000 samples per device. PMI Labs is thrilled to pass on the savings to our customers in our ongoing effort to raise awareness for oral cancer screening. "With the increase of oral cancer cases among young adults, we hope that this initiative will provide more accessibility of OralAdvance™ to all Canadians; thus allowing health professionals to detect oral cancer in its early stages and provide care for a better chance of survival. Oral cancer screening should become a standard practice in dental offices nation-wide to save lives through early detection. We believe that our products, along with our oral cancer awareness campaign, SaveTheFace.org, will help achieve these goals," comments Dr. Bojana Turic, PMI Labs - President and CEO. OralAdvance™ is used by dentists to assess the cancerous potential of suspicious lesions in the oral cavity. Cells are collected from areas that look like they may be pre-cancer using OralAdvance™'s easy-to-use brush. These cells are then assessed at PMI Labs' Vancouver laboratory to determine whether they have [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-24T11:00:10-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|