human papillomavirus – Page 15

Cannabinoids may offer hope for patients with oral cancer pain

Source: www.elements4health.com Even the strongest available pain medications are largely ineffective for many cancer patients, particularly those with oral cancers. One of the nation’s leading oral cancer treating clinicians, speaking at the American Pain Society’s annual meeting, said he believes that while prospects for major treatment advances remain bleak, a new cannabinoid-based medication may have some promise for providing meaningful pain relief. Brian Schmidt, DDS, MD, PhD, professor, New York University College of Dentistry and School of Medicine, delivered the Global Year Against Pain Lecture and reported that today, more than 100 years since President Ulysses S. Grant died from oral cancer, there is only modest improvement in patient survival. Grant is the only American president to die from cancer. “Oral cancer is one of the most painful and debilitating of all malignancies,” said Schmidt, “ and opioids, the strongest pain medications we have, are an imperfect solution. They become dramatically less effective as tolerance to these drugs develops.” Now considered to be the fastest increasing cancer in the United States, oral and oropharyngeal malignancies usually begin in the tongue. Human papillomavirus transmitted through oral sex, tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption are the leading causes of this increase in oropharyngeal cancer. In the United States, some 43,000 new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed every year and the disease is more widespread worldwide with 640,000 new cases a year. Schmidt said oral cancer patients often undergo multiple surgeries as tumors recur and also are treated with radiation and chemotherapy. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-05-15T08:40:08-07:00May, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection in HPV-Positive Patients With Oropharyngeal Cancer and Their Partners

Authors: Gypsyamber D’Souza, Neil D. Gross, Sara I. Pai, Robert Haddad, Karen S. Anderson, Shirani Rajan, Jennifer Gerber, Maura L. Gillison, Marshall R. Posner Source: http://jco.ascopubs.org Abstract Purpose To better understand oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cancer risk among long-term sexual partners of patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer (HPV-OPC). Patients and Methods An oral rinse sample, risk factor survey, cancer history, and oral examination (partners only) were collected from patients with HPV-OPC and their partners. Oral rinse samples were evaluated for 36 types of HPV DNA using PGMY 09/11 primers and line-blot hybridization and HPV16 copy number using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Oral HPV prevalence was compared with infection among those age 45 to 65 years using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010. Results A total of 164 patients with HPV-OPC and 93 of their partners were enrolled. Patients were primarily men (90%), were never-smokers (51%), and had performed oral sex (97%), with a median age of 56 years; they had a high prevalence of oncogenic oral HPV DNA (61%) and oral HPV16 DNA (54%) at enrollment. Female partners had comparable oncogenic oral HPV prevalence compared with members of the general population of the same age (1.2% v 1.3%). Among the six male partners, no oncogenic oral HPV infections were detected. No precancers or cancers were identified during partner oral cancer screening examinations. However, a history of cervical disease was reported by nine partners (10.3%) and two female patients (11.8%), and three patients (2.0%) reported a previous partner who developed invasive cervical cancer. Conclusion Oral HPV16 DNA is commonly detected among patients with HPV-OPC [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-04-30T11:22:21-07:00April, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Beaumont Researchers: biomarkers predict effectiveness of radiation treatments for head and neck cancer

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff An international team of researchers, led by Beaumont Health System’s Jan Akervall, M.D., Ph.D., looked at biomarkers to determine the effectiveness of radiation treatments for patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. They identified two markers that were good at predicting a patient’s resistance to radiation therapy. Their findings were published in the February issue of the European Journal of Cancer. Explains Dr. Akervall, co-director, Head and Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and clinical director of Beaumont’s BioBank, “Radiation therapy is a common treatment for people with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. However, it’s not always well-tolerated. It can take two months, resulting in lots of side effects. Some of these complications are permanent. Before my patient goes down that path, I really want to know if their tumors are going to respond to radiation. That’s where the patient’s biomarkers can shed some light. If not, we can look at other treatment options - saving time, possible risk for complications and expense.” A biomarker is a gene or a set of genes or its products, RNA and proteins, that researchers use to predict a key clinical issue such as diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment, choice of treatment or recurrence. Biomarker studies can provide a bridge between emerging molecular information and clinical treatment. Biomarkers may also lead to personalized treatment, in contrast to protocol-based medicine of today. “Personalized treatment decisions based on biomarkers go beyond traditional cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-03-30T10:18:00-07:00March, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Chemoradiation offered better survival than accelerated radiation in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

Source: www.oncologypractice.com Author: Neil Osterweil, Oncology Report Digital Network Concurrent chemoradiation offered better overall survival and disease-free survival than accelerated radiotherapy in patients with moderately advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, investigators reported at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Symposium. Actuarial rates of 2-year overall survival and disease-free survival in patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation (CCR) were significantly better than for patients treated with accelerated radiotherapy alone, reported Dr. Krzysztof Skladowski of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, Poland. "CCR with conventional 7 weeks of fractionation and at least two courses of high-dose cisplatin is more effective than 6 weeks of accelerated radiotherapy alone," he said. Even if patients can tolerate only a single course of cisplatin, CCR is still superior to accelerated radiation, he added. The findings suggest that accelerated radiation protocols should be reserved for patients with more favorable prognosis, such as those with stage T2 disease with limited nodal involvement, and those who are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) p16 protein, Dr. Skladowski said at the symposium cosponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The findings are "concordant with data that has been emerging now over approximately 10-14 years of the value of concurrent chemoradiation in head and neck cancer for a substantial cohort of patients over radiation alone," said Dr. Paul Harari of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the invited discussant. Although a previous meta-analysis (Lancet 2006; [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-03-19T07:16:22-07:00March, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Recurrent mouth and throat cancers less deadly when caused by HPV

Source: www.oncologynurseadvisor.com Author: Kathy Boltz, PhD People with late-stage cancer at the back of the mouth or throat that recurs after chemotherapy and radiation treatment are twice as likely to be alive 2 years later if their cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), suggests new research. This study was presented at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, held in Scottsdale, Arizona. Previous studies have found that people with so-called HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers are more likely to survive than those whose cancers are related to smoking or whose origins are unknown. The new study shows that the longer survival pattern holds even if the cancer returns. Oropharyngeal cancers, which once were linked primarily to heavy smoking, are now more likely to be caused by HPV, a virus that is transmitted by oral and other kinds of sex. The rise in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers has been attributed to changes in sexual behaviors, most notably an increase in oral sex partners. For the study, the researchers used data provided by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group on 181 patients with late-stage oropharyngeal cancer whose HPV status was known and whose cancer had spread after primary treatment. There were 105 HPV-positive participants and 76 HPV-negative ones. Although the median time to recurrence was roughly the same (8.2 months vs 7.3 months, respectively), some 54.6% of those with HPV-positive cancer were alive 2 years after recurrence, whereas only 27.6% of those with HPV-negative cancers were still alive at that point in time. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-03-19T07:11:24-07:00March, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Improving QOL in head and neck cancer as survival improves

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Zosia Chustecka In patients undergoing radiation treatment for head and neck cancer, reducing the radiation to organs not affected by cancer is key to improving quality of life post-treatment. Several studies presented here at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium described new approaches to sparing radiation delivered to the salivary glands and to the voice box, without any loss of cancer control, but with a reported reduction in adverse effects, such as xerostomia (dry mouth), and an anticipated reduction in loss of voice and speech quality. Improvements in such outcomes are becoming increasingly important as the epidemiology of head and neck cancer is changing, and the increase in human papillomavirus-positive disease means that patients are being diagnosed their 50s and will, in many cases, go on to live for decades after their definitive cancer treatment, researchers commented at a press briefing. Xerostomia can make it difficult to speak, as well as chew and swallow, and can lead to dental problems. "Dry mouth might seem trivial, but it actually has a significant effect on quality of life," commented Tyler Robin, PhD, an MD candidate in his final year at the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver. To reduce this adverse effect, intensity-modulated radiation techniques are already directing the beam away from the parotid gland, which is responsible for stimulated saliva production, for example during eating. But for the rest of the time, saliva is produced unstimulated from the submandibular gland. "This gland actually produces the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-02-28T14:23:04-07:00February, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

President’s panel calls for more girls, boys to get HPV vaccine

Author: Government news release Source: consumer.healthday.com Too few American girls and boys are getting vaccinated against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV), the President's Cancer Panel reported Monday. HPV is linked to cervical cancer as well as penis, rectal and oral cancers. One in four adults in the United States is infected with at least one type of HPV. Increasing HPV vaccination rates could prevent a large number of cancer cases and save many lives, the panel said. "Today, there are two safe, effective, approved vaccines that prevent infection by the two most prevalent cancer-causing types, yet vaccination rates are far too low," Barbara Rimer, chair of the President's Cancer Panel, said in a panel news release. "We are confident that if HPV vaccination for girls and boys is made a public health priority, hundreds of thousands will be protected from these HPV-associated diseases and cancers over their lifetimes," she added. Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that girls aged 11 and 12 receive either the Cervarix or Gardasil vaccines, and Gardasil is recommended for boys of similar age. In 2012, only a third of girls aged 13 to 17 got all three recommended doses of HPV vaccine, CDC data shows. That's much lower than the federal government's goal of having 80 percent of girls aged 13 to 15 fully vaccinated against HPV by 2020, the report said. The picture is even more disappointing for boys. Less than 7 percent of males aged 13 to 17 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-02-11T13:11:27-07:00February, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Study: Oropharyngeal cancer on the rise in young adults

Source: www.sciencecodex.com Author: staff A new study reveals an alarming increase in oropharyngeal cancers among young adults. While the exact cause for this phenomenon is unknown, the human papillomavirus (HPV) may be to blame. According to researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit there was an overall 60 percent increase from 1973 and 2009 in cancers of the base of tongue, tonsils, soft palate and pharynx in people younger than age 45. Among Caucasians, there was a 113 percent increase, while among African-Americans the rate of these cancers declined by 52 percent during that period of time. But compared to Caucasians and other races, the five-year survival rate remains worse for African Americans. The study is published online ahead of print in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. "The growing incidence in oropharyngeal cancer has been largely attributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, which led to an increased transmission of high-risk HPV," says study lead author Farzan Siddiqui, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Head & Neck Radiation Therapy Program in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford Hospital. "We were interested in looking at people born during that time period and incidence of oropharyngeal cancer. Not only were we surprised to find a substantial increase in young adults with cancer of the tonsils and base of tongue, but also a wide deviation among Caucasians and African Americans with this cancer." The American Cancer Society estimates about [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-01-31T09:22:10-07:00January, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Global trends in oral cancers

Source: www.dailyrx.com Author: staff It used to be that smoking and drinking alcohol were the biggest risk factors for cancers that develop in the mouth and throat. Those trends may be changing, according to a new study. That new study uncovered that cancers that appear in the throat right behind the mouth have increased, primarily in developed countries. The trend has been most prevalent in men under the age of 60, the researchers found. These increases, the authors suggested, may be linked to human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that’s associated with a number of cancers, including oral cancers. Anil K. Chaturvedi, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, led this study that examined incidence trends for oropharyngeal (part of the throat behind the mouth) and oral cavity (mouth) cancers in 23 countries across four continents. The researchers examined the countries’ cancer registry data for the years 1983 to 2002. In the study’s introduction, the authors noted that oral cavity cancers (OCC) have declined recently in most parts of the world due to the declines in tobacco use. At the same time, oropharyngeal cancers (OPC) have risen over the past 20 years in some countries. OPC rates were compared to those of OCC and lung cancers to distinguish the potential role of HPV from smoking-related cancer trends. The researchers tracked specific OPC sites, including base of the tongue, tonsils, oropharynx and pharynx (throat). OCC sites included the tongue, gums, floor of the mouth, palate (roof of the mouth) and other [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-11-19T14:42:18-07:00November, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Dental hygienist, consultant detects own oral cancer

Source: www.dentistryiq.com Author: Shelli Castor Dental hygienist and practice-management consultant Barbara Boland discovered at the young age of 41 that she had oral cancer. Boland is now a 10-year cancer survivor, and she hopes her story and experiences will serve to start a continuing dialogue about oral cancer, especially among dental professionals. Boland graduated from Temple University in Pennsylvania in 1982 and has been working as a practice-management consultant for 24 years. In December 2002, she discovered a peculiar white spot on her tongue that she knew she hadn’t noticed before. She kept an eye on the spot for a month, and because it was changing, she showed her tongue to a head and neck surgeon. The surgeon responded that it couldn’t be cancer for various reasons: she didn’t smoke or drink, she was female, and she was “too young” — there was no way the spot could be cancer. While such an almost flippant response to a patient’s concerns seems wildly out of place and unexpected today, Boland notes that 10 years ago, dental and medical professionals were not well-educated on the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of oral cancer. For dental and medical professionals 10 years ago, the most common risk factors included tobacco and alcohol use, age, and the fact that males had a higher incidence of oral cancer than females. Boland fit none of those categories, and so her concerns were not seen as pressing. Still, the spot on her tongue “didn’t feel right” to her. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-10-15T07:37:56-07:00October, 2013|Oral Cancer News|