cancer – Page 9 – Oral Cancer News

Quebecers waiting longer for surgery

Source: CTV.ca Canadians who needed surgeries or other treatments in 2011 had to wait longer than they have in close to two decades, says a new report from the Fraser Institute, and the average waiting time for Quebecers has grown to the longest it's been since 2003. The think-tank, which has been tracking wait times since 1993, says that the median wait time for surgery in 2011 jumped to 19 weeks, from 18.2 weeks in 2010. In Quebec the average time in 2011 grew to 19.9 weeks. The previous year patients waited 18.8 weeks, while in 2009 the average waiting time was 16.6 weeks. Despite the growth in waiting times, Quebec patients were the third quickest in the country at getting the operations they needed. The survey suggests the main reason for delays in Quebec was the time between seeing a specialist after getting a referral from a General Practitioner, which at 10.7 weeks is above the national average. The wait for second step of the process -- actually getting the operation -- had actually decreased in Quebec from 9.9 weeks to 9.2 weeks. Only in Ontario, B.C., and Manitoba were patients faster at moving into the operating room after an initial visit with a surgeon. Life-threatening cases always treated quickly Surgery is not a first-come, first-served affair. Doctors at the Jewish General Hospital say priority is always given to life-threatening cases. "There are patients walking around with hernias, for example, that are not symptomatic, that they've had for 15 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-13T10:25:29-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Europe Bans X-Ray Body Scanners

Source: AVWeb.com The European Commission decided in November to ban airport body scanning X-ray backscatter machines after studies found a small number of cancer cases linked to use of the devices. The decision affects all airports in Europe, with an exception for U.K. airports that will be allowed to test them, but not deploy them permanently. According to the European Commission, "only security scanners which do not use X-ray technology are added to the list of authorized methods for passenger screening at EU airports." The commission does approve of full non-X-ray body scanners (radio wave scanners are among those used in the U.S.) when operated under specific guidelines and restrictions. In the U.S., the TSA uses more than 250 backscatter machines at the nation's 100 busiest airports and is unmoved by Europe's position. The degree of cancer risk varies somewhat depending on the source ... as does the degree of usefulness of the machines themselves. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, backscatter machines bring a cancer risk of one in 400 million. Research reported by PBS Newshour/ProPublica states that the risk of developing cancer from the machines is "anywhere from six to 100" passengers per year. In a detailed paper submitted to the White House, University of California researchers said that because backscatter X-ray energy is absorbed mainly by the skin and underlying tissue, the skin dosage may be dangerously high in localized areas. The TSA says the amount of radiation emitted by a backscatter machine is similar [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-01T12:22:27-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Use and Acceptance of HPV Vaccine Still a Work in Progress

Source: National Cancer Institute A bellwether moment in the history of cancer prevention came in 2006 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. The vaccine, Gardasil, protects against the two primary cancer-causing, or oncogenic, types of the human papillomavirus (HPV)—HPV-16 and HPV-18. These types are responsible for more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases worldwide. In 2009, the FDA approved a second HPV vaccine, Cervarix, which also targets HPV-16 and HPV-18. Gardasil and Cervarix, vaccines that protect against the two primary cancer-causing types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), entail a three-shot regimen, with each dose delivered several months apart. But what has transpired since these two vaccines received regulatory blessing in the United States has reaffirmed something that cancer and public health researchers have appreciated for some time: The translation of basic research to the clinic doesn’t end with FDA approval of a new drug or treatment. In many respects, FDA approval is just a beginning. In March 2007, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) gave its strongest recommendation for HPV vaccination for females ages 9 to 26, which is the FDA-approved indication for Gardasil. Cervarix is approved for females ages 10 to 25. Both vaccines entail a three-shot regimen, with the doses delivered several months apart. According to the most recent data, only 44 percent of adolescent girls 13 to 17 years of age have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Completion rates for the three-shot [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-30T10:47:00-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Primary component in turmeric kicks off cancer-killing mechanisms in human saliva

Source: Eurekalert.org Curcumin, the main component in the spice turmeric, suppresses a cell signaling pathway that drives the growth of head and neck cancer, according to a pilot study using human saliva by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The inhibition of the cell signaling pathway also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or signaling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth, said Dr. Marilene Wang, a professor of head and neck surgery, senior author of the study and a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher. "This study shows that curcumin can work in the mouths of patients with head and neck malignancies and reduce activities that promote cancer growth," Wang said. "And it not only affected the cancer by inhibiting a critical cell signaling pathway, it also affected the saliva itself by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines within the saliva." The study appears Sept. 15 in Clinical Cancer Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association of Cancer Research. Turmeric is a naturally occurring spice widely used in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking and has long been known to have medicinal properties, attributed to its anti-inflammatory effects. Previous studies have shown it can suppress the growth of certain cancers. In India, women for years have been using turmeric as an anti-aging agent rubbed into their skin, to treat cramps during menstruation and as a poultice on the skin to promote wound healing. A 2005 study by Wang and her team first showed that curcumin suppressed the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-13T11:02:22-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New Study Shows that Fatty Acids Reduces Effectiveness of Chemotherapy

Source: Medicalexpress.com Researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, have discovered a substance that has an adverse effect on nearly all types of chemotherapy - making cancer cells insensitive to the treatment. Chemotherapy often loses effectiveness over time. It is often unclear how or why this happens. It now appears that chemotherapy is made ineffective by two types of fatty acid that are made by stem cells in the blood. Under the influence of cisplatin chemotherapy, the stem cells secrete these fatty acids that induce resistance to a broad spectrum of chemotherapies. These substances are referred to by researchers as 'PIFAs' which stands for platinum-induced fatty acids. Cisplatin is a type of chemotherapy that is widely used for the treatment of cancer, including cancer of the lungs and ovaries. Tumors under the skin The researchers studied the effect of PIFA's in mice and human cells. The mice studied had tumors under the skin. Under normal conditions, the tumors would decrease in size following the administration of chemotherapy. In the study, after administering the fatty acids to the mice, the tumors were found to be insensitive to chemotherapy. The fatty acids were isolated from the medium in which chemotherapy exposed stem cells were grown. But also stem cells in the blood of patients produce the fatty acids that desensitize tumors to chemotherapy. The fatty acids are also found in commercially-produced fish oil supplements containing omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as in some algae extracts. In the experiments conducted [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-13T10:50:40-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New Research Proves Cancer-Fighting Virus can Kill Tumor Cells Without Harming Healthy Tissue

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Researchers have shown for the first time that a single intravenous infusion of a genetically engineered virus can home in on cancer, killing tumor cells in patients without harming healthy tissue. Scientists have been intrigued for decades with the idea of using viruses to alert the immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. That interest has taken off in recent years as advances in genetic engineering allow them to customize viruses that target tumors. The field received a boost in January when biotech giant Amgen Inc agreed to pay up to $1 billion for BioVex, the developer of experimental cancer-fighting virus OncoVex. But the only "oncolytic virus" so far approved by a regulatory agency is for treatment of head and neck cancer in China. In a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, scientists at institutions including the University of Ottawa and privately held biotech company Jennerex Inc said a small, early-stage trial of experimental viral therapy JX-954 found that it consistently infected tumors with only minimal and temporary side effects. The experimental virus will next be tested in a mid-stage trial of patients with liver cancer. "With chemotherapy you get drastic side effects," said Dr. John Bell, chief scientific officer at Jennerex and senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. "Patients on this treatment only had 24-hour flu symptoms, and nothing after that." The trial, which involved 23 patients with various types of advanced cancer, was designed to assess the safety of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-01T10:59:03-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New Study for Head and Neck Melanomas

Source: MDNews.com ANN ARBOR, MI — A common technique for determining whether melanoma has spread can be used safely and effectively even in tumors from the head and neck area, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Sentinel lymph node biopsy involves injecting a special dye to identify the first node where cancer would likely spread. If that node is clean, patients can avoid further debilitating surgery to remove multiple lymph nodes. If that node shows cancer, patients know they need the more extensive surgery or further treatment with radiation, chemotherapy or a clinical trial. Patients with larger melanomas are routinely offered this procedure. But many surgeons believed that the complex anatomy combined with the critical nerves and blood vessels in the head and neck area made sentinel lymph node biopsy unsafe and inaccurate for melanomas in that region. In the current study, which appears online in Cancer, researchers looked at 353 head and neck melanoma patients who had received sentinel lymph node biopsy at U-M over a 10-year period. After reviewing patients’ records, the researchers found that the sentinel lymph node could be identified in all but one patient, and no patients sustained permanent nerve injuries during the procedure. About 20 percent of the patients had at least one sentinel node positive for cancer and were referred for a complete dissection to remove additional lymph nodes. Among the remaining 283 patients with negative sentinel nodes, 12 patients recurred in the region where the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-09T10:30:24-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Reirradiation Effective in Post-Radiation Sarcoma

Source: MedScape Today News Reirradiation plus hyperthermia is an effective treatment for radiation-associated sarcoma (RAS) and could even cure some of these rare tumors, a small new study suggests. "The reirradiation plus hyperthermia as we used it appears to be quite successful with a very high response rate and reasonable local control rate," Dr. Geertjan van Tienhoven of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health. RAS develops in areas previously reirradiated with 25 to 80 Gray, usually with a latency period of three years or more, and with a different histology from the original tumor, according to a June 28th online paper in Cancer. Dr. van Tienhoven predicts that "radiation-associated sarcomas are going to be more frequent in the future, because of an increasing prevalence of breast cancer survivors who are at risk, be it a low risk, for RAS." These tumors are usually resected with radical surgery and sometimes adjuvant chemotherapy. To date, according the paper, there haven't been any randomized trials or other prospective studies of reirradiation for RAS. "Many papers and textbooks state that radiation shouldn't be done in these tumors because they are caused by radiation. Indeed it sounds counterintuitive to irradiate again," Dr. van Tienhoven said in an interview. But using hyperthermia with reirradiation allows for a lower radiation dose, he and his coauthors explain. The Academic Medical Center and the Institute Verbeeten have "extensive experience" with this approach, for example in breast cancer recurrence in previously irradiated [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-09T10:29:53-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

How Norwich woman put the “fun” in fundraising

Source: Norwich evening news Author: Rowan Mantell She’s enlisted elephants and garden gnomes to her cause, met royalty, staged an impromptu strip show and helped make millions for charity. Theresa Cossey, who has just stepped down as a trustee of the Big C charity, talks about putting the fun into fundraising. She spoke to ROWAN MANTELL. All her life Theresa Cossey has fizzed with money-making ideas. Elephants and garden gnomes were early stars of her fund-raising fervour, and over the past 30 years she has helped raise millions for Norfolk charity Big C – with everything from huge society events to tiny table-top tombolas. She has encouraged people who have run marathons, rafted across the Channel, embarked on sponsored tandem rides in pantomime costume, raced hospital trollies and auctioned anything from bedspreads to baby donkeys. Theresa is, quite simply, a phenomenal fundraiser. Since 1980 she has raised big, big money for Big C, and despite the decades of hard graft, she still believes fund-raising is all about having fun. “Fundraising should be without the final ‘d’; it should be fun, and if it stops being fun you should stop doing it,” she said. That fun has funded hospital wards and equipment, paid for practical and emotional support for cancer patients and their families, and set up teams of scientists researching treatments and cures. This summer Theresa is handing over some of her Big C responsibilities, but not because she has lost her passion for the charity. “When you get past 70 [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-08-08T12:11:43-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Convergence in Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Eurekalert.org Powerful new technologies that zoom in on the connections between human genes and diseases have illuminated the landscape of cancer, singling out changes in tumor DNA that drive the development of certain types of malignancies such as melanoma or ovarian cancer. Now several major biomedical centers have collaborated to shine a light on head and neck squamous cell cancer. Their large-scale analysis has revealed a surprising new set of mutations involved in this understudied disease. In back-to-back papers published online July 28 in Science, researchers from the Broad Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have confirmed genetic abnormalities previously suspected in head and neck cancer, including defects in the tumor suppressor gene known as p53. But the two teams also found mutations in the NOTCH family of genes, suggesting their role as regulators of an important stage in cell development may be impaired. "This adds a new dimension to head and neck cancer biology that was not on anyone's radar screen before," said Levi A. Garraway, a senior associate member of the Broad Institute, an assistant professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, and a senior author of one of the Science papers. "Head and neck cancer is complex and there are many mutations, but we can infer there is a convergence on a cellular process for which we previously did not have genetic evidence. It shows that if you [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-28T13:36:56-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|