chemotherapy – Page 21 – Oral Cancer News

Low-Dose Sorafenib may Boost Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Darrell E. Ward Ohio State University Medical Center Adding low doses of the targeted agent sorafenib to the chemotherapy and radiation now often used to treat head and neck cancer might significantly improve patient care and quality of life, according to a new study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James). The findings suggest that adding sorafenib would maintain treatment efficacy while permitting the use of lower doses of chemotherapy and radiation and decreasing the treatment's harsh side effects. The triple combination was well-tolerated in an animal model. About 49,200 new cases of head and neck cancer are expected in the U.S. this year, and 11,500 people are expected to die of the disease. Treatment is often unsuccessful because the tumors become resistant to both chemotherapy and radiation therapy. "This pre-clinical study suggests that using low-dose sorafenib along with chemotherapy and radiation could have significantly milder side effects while maintaining effectiveness," says researcher and principal investigator Dr. Pawan Kumar, assistant professor of otolaryngology and a neck surgeon at the OSUCCC - James. "Our findings provide a scientific rationale to evaluate this combination strategy through a clinical trial," Kumar added. The results of the laboratory and animal study are published online in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, and they include the following: Sorafenib sensitized tumor cells to chemotherapy and radiation treatment by down-regulating DNA repair proteins (ERCC-1 and XRCC-1), and it decreased tumor angiogenesis [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-18T13:14:39-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Hall of Fame Slugger, Killebrew Enters Hospice Care

Source: Yahoo News MINNEAPOLIS – Harmon Killebrew announced Friday that he no longer plans to fight his esophageal cancer and has settled in for the final days of his life, saddening friends and fans of the 74-year-old Hall of Fame slugger. In a statement released jointly by the Minnesota Twins and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Killebrew said "it is with profound sadness" that he will no longer receive treatment for the "awful disease." He said the cancer has been deemed incurable by his doctors and he will enter hospice care. "With the continued love and support of my wife, Nita, I have exhausted all options," Killebrew said. He added: "I have spent the past decade of my life promoting hospice care and educating people on its benefits. I am very comfortable taking this next step and experiencing the compassionate care that hospice provides." Killebrew, who's 11th on baseball's all-time home run list with 573, thanked his well-wishers for their support. "I look forward to spending my final days in comfort and peace with Nita by my side," he said. Killebrew lives in the Phoenix area and was receiving treatment at a branch of the Mayo Clinic nearby after his diagnosis in December. He expressed optimism at the time, saying he expected to make a full recovery while acknowledging he was in "perhaps the most difficult battle" of his life. Killebrew was able to travel to Fort Myers, Fla., in March for his annual stint as a guest instructor [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-16T11:44:28-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

New Research Shows Chemo Brain Could Last More Than 5 Years

Source: New York Times “Chemo brain,” the foggy thinking and forgetfulness that cancer patients often complain about after treatment, may last for five years or more for a sizable percentage of patients, new research shows. The findings, based on a study of 92 cancer patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, suggest that the cognitive losses that seem to follow many cancer treatments are far more pronounced and longer-lasting than commonly believed. The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology, is a vindication of sorts for many cancer patients, whose complaints about thinking and memory problems are often dismissed by doctors who lay blame for the symptoms on normal aging or the fatigue of illness. “It’s clearly established now that chemo brain does exist and can continue long-term,” said Karen L. Syrjala, co-director of the Survivorship Program at Fred Hutchinson and the study’s lead author. “The real issue here is that recovery from cancer treatment is not a one-year process but a two- to five-year process. People need to understand the extent to which the cells in their bodies have really been compromised by not only the cancer, but also the treatment.” The 92 patients in the study had all undergone chemotherapy as part of bone marrow or stem cell transplants to treat blood cancers. Although the range of effects of different cancers and treatments probably varies, researchers said the finding that cognitive recovery can take five years or more is likely to apply to breast cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-09T10:44:19-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas turns alarming diagnosis into resources for Montreal hospital

Source: TheStar.com The atmosphere was electric when elegant, beleaguered actor Michael Douglas appeared at New York Fashion Week with his beautiful wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. The glamourous couple had come out to support their designer pal Michael Kors, whose 30th anniversary show was part of the February shows at Lincoln Center. Like many fans, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the 66-year-old actor, looking chic in his tailored cashmere. Last summer, Douglas had been diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer. We had all said our prayers. This week, in gratitude to the doctor and hospital that helped save his life, Douglas appeared at a gala benefit in Montreal for the McGill Head and Neck Cancer Fund. But he was flying solo: Zeta-Jones, who was recently diagnosed and treated for bipolar II disorder, was at work on a film in the United States. Their family has gone through some unspeakably tough trials, but it appears things are happily back on track. At the gala, the dapper Douglas posed for countless pictures and chatted with guests, adamant about spreading the word that cancer can be beaten and a positive attitude is key. Free of the disease for three months now, Douglas told the crowd that his cancer had gone undiagnosed by doctors in the U.S. While on vacation at his farm outside Mont Tremblant in 2010, Douglas sought a second opinion from Dr. Saul Frenkiel, a head and neck surgeon at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital. The chilling news: Douglas had [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-06T09:29:07-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas compliments Canadian health care

Source: The Globe and Mail Hollywood star Michael Douglas offered up high praise for Canadian health care on Tuesday in a nod to the Montreal medical staff who made the breakthrough diagnosis of his throat cancer. Mr. Douglas said a doctor at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital detected the disease that had eluded specialists in the United States. In gratitude, the Oscar winner agreed to add a new role to his résumé: fundraising draw for Canadian medical research. The actor travelled to Montreal from New York on Tuesday to act as leading man for McGill University’s annual fundraiser for head and neck cancer research. In an interview at a Montreal ballroom where he was about to be honoree for the evening, a dapper-looking Mr. Douglas said getting the news was like being “hit by a truck.” Yet when it came, he said, he had suspected it for months. He said he’d been having bothersome symptoms over the course of nine months: pain in his throat, in the back of his gums and up toward his ears. He consulted various ear, nose and throat doctors and was prescribed antibiotics for what was thought to be an infection. But while summering last year in Quebec’s Mont Tremblant, where he shares a home with his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mr. Douglas went to see Dr. Saul Frenkiel at the Jewish General, a McGill teaching hospital. The doctor put a tongue depressor in the actor’s throat. “I looked in his eyes and I immediately knew [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-05T09:49:17-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV & oral sex: link to increase oral cancer in men

Fort Worth— Dana Wilson is one of an estimated 20- million Americans who have HPV which caused cancer in his tongue and neck. Dana remembers getting the news after going to the doctor to have a lump in his neck checked. "It was a moment that you would probably bleep me for saying on air," Dana said. "It was one of those oh, moments." Dr. Jerry Barker is an oncologist at Texas Oncology in Fort Worth and said there is much to be learned about HPV. A recent study suggested that open mouth kissing could be a way to transmit the virus--but Dr. Barker said one thing is certain. "There is clearly a distinct correlation between head and neck cancer and the number of oral sexual partners in a patient's lifetime," Dr. Barker said. "It's an epidemic of human papillomavirus worldwide." Dr. Barker said the virus is increasing at about 2% to 3% a year--approximately the same rate as head and neck cancers--and today fewer Americans smoke. "It's interesting that ten or twenty years ago the majority of men and women who have head and neck cancers had heavy smoking and drinking histories," Dr. Barker said. "Now it tends of be young, non-smokers that are getting these cancers. Dana was treated with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy--today he is cancer free and mentors other head and neck cancer patients. "Was I shocked? Yea," Dana said. "Because probably like a lot of people my initial reaction was HPV, that's a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-07T05:18:38-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Mayo Clinic finds robotic surgery effective for removing hard-to-reach throat cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: press release Robotic surgery has become a mainstream tool for removing an ever-increasing variety of head and neck tumors. Now, a team of head and neck surgeons from Mayo Clinic has found robotic surgery can treat cancer in the narrow, hard-to-reach area beyond the tongue at the top of the voice box. Some patients were able to avoid further treatment with chemotherapy or radiation, and most could resume normal eating and speaking. "We've known it's useful for tongue base and tonsil cancers, but we wanted to assess its effectiveness in the larynx," says Kerry Olsen, M.D., Mayo Clinic otolaryngologist and senior author of the study that was presented April 29 at the Combined Otolaryngological Spring Meetings in Chicago. The investigation of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) followed nine patients for up to three years following removal of supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma, which affects the area of the larynx above the vocal cords. Most of the patients had advanced-stage disease. The results showed TORS effectively removed cancer, with "clean," disease-free margins, and was easier to perform than the approach of transoral laser microsurgery via a laryngoscope. The patients also underwent the surgical removal of their adjacent neck nodes at the same operation. "We were pleased with the cancer outcomes," Dr. Olsen says. "We also found patients had minimal trouble after surgery, in most cases resuming normal eating, swallowing and speaking." With TORS, the robotic arms that enter the mouth include a thin camera, an arm with a cautery or [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-30T16:14:07-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV is now the leading cause of oral cancer in the US: learn the facts.

Source: New York Daily News HPV, otherwise known as the human papillomavirus, is a leading cause of cervical cancer for women but the nasty virus is now causing a spike in oral cancer and ravaging an entirely different group: men. Cases of oral cancer resulting from exposure to the HPV-16 strain of the virus are hitting epidemic proportions in the U.S., doctors say. Though the mention of oral cancer evokes images of gravely-voiced chain-smokers, the disease now has a new face: mostly white, male, non-smokers in their late 30s and early 40s. The tumors forming on the back of their tongues and tonsils have nothing to do with nicotine – they are directly linked to engaging in oral sex with multiple female partners. "If you've had more than five or six sexual partners, you are at a higher risk," Dr. Eric M. Genden, professor and chair of head and neck surgery at Mount Sinai Medical center told the Daily News. "We're only now beginning to see the beginning of a bell curve." Women can get it from men as well although their chances are lower, according to doctors. The human papillomavirus (HPV), a nasty bug with strains that causes genital warts and cervical cancer in women, is now the top cause of oral cancer in men, beating out smoking and drinking, according to reports from the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Oncology as well as other research and treating institutions. The number of smokers in the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-21T13:52:00-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

After a long battle with 3 different types of cancer, a footloose Orlando man takes on a 2,650-mile hike

At 68, John Casterline has beaten advanced-stage lung cancer, prostate cancer and throat cancer. Last month, he finished radiation treatments. Just one week ago, his doctors pronounced him cancer-free. So what is he doing to celebrate? Forget Disney World. Starting April 28, this Orlando retiree will be hiking 2,650 miles, from Canada to Mexico, along the Pacific Crest Trail — a route that will climb above 13,000 feet elevation and require him to average 20 miles a day. "I expect that I will experience weather that is too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry and too perfect," he wrote in his journal a year ago, when he began training seriously for the hike. "I will encounter rattle snakes, bears, and maybe even mountain lions. … The mosquitoes will be horrendous at times, the hills steep, the rocks sharp, the trail blocked, the wind very strong. [Sleep will be] occasionally fitful and I'll be carrying a backpack with 30-plus pounds." But if you have to ask why he's doing it, he wrote, you wouldn't understand. It is not simply that he hopes to raise $26,500 for the dramatically underfunded battle against lung cancer, a disease expected to claim the lives of 160,000 Americans this year — more than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined. Nor is it about creating some kind of legacy. Though followers can read his ongoing exploits on lungcancerhike.org, the website is intended to give fellow cancer survivors hope — and to collect donations for the American [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-21T13:49:22-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Study Finds Few Second Cancers Attributable to Radiotherapy

Elsevier Global Medical News Author: MA Moon It appears that only 8% of second solid cancers can be attributed to radiotherapy for a first cancer, according to a report published online March 30 in the Lancet. This figure varies somewhat according to the site of the first solid tumor, with the lowest attributable risk (4%) in cancers of the eye or orbit and the highest attributable risk (24%) in cancers of the testes. Given that only a small proportion of second cancers among adult survivors are likely to be related to radiotherapy, it follows that most second cancers arise from other causes, such as genetics or lifestyle factors, said Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, D.Phil., of the National Cancer Institute, and her associates. "These findings can be used by physicians and patients to put the risk of radiation-related cancer into perspective when compared with the probable benefits of treatment," the researchers noted. Many studies have shown an association between receiving radiotherapy for a first solid tumor and subsequently developing a second solid tumor. However, the proportion of second cancers that might be related to radiotherapy has not been investigated before, they said. Dr. Berrington de Gonzalez and her colleagues used data from the U.S. SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) cancer registry to perform "a comprehensive and systematic analysis of all first solid cancer sites in adults that are routinely treated with radiotherapy." They included 647,672 patients who were 5-year cancer survivors and were aged 20 years and older when they were diagnosed with a first primary invasive solid cancer in 1973-2002. The participants were followed for 5-34 years (mean follow-up, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-04T12:51:20-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|