oral cancer – Page 29 – Oral Cancer News

Colleen Zenk Pinter: Cancer survivor has much to be thankful for this year

Source: Acorn Online Author: Susan Wolf Thanksgiving will be more than a pleasant holiday gathering with family and friends this year for Colleen Zenk Pinter. It will be a celebration of life, of being thankful for those closest to her. Ms. Zenk Pinter approaches this Thanksgiving cancer-free after a long and often painful battle with oral cancer. Her journey has been fraught with setbacks, but she has emerged as a formidable opponent, one who now uses her celebrity to educate others about oral cancer. A two-time Emmy Award nominee, Colleen Zenk Pinter has played the character of Barbara Ryan since 1978 on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. Her own world was turned upside down in March 2007 when her oral cancer was diagnosed. A lesion under her tongue “that didn’t even look like cancer” was, in fact, cancer. Somehow she got through her daughter Georgia’s 14th birthday party, telling no one, not even her husband, actor Mark Pinter, who was out of town. Finally, the next day, she gave the news to her husband and mother and then went to see Jen Wastrom, a woman she affectionately calls the “ring leader” of her posse of friends. Eventually “the posse” was notified and thesupport that has come to mean so much to Ms. Zenk Pinter immediately materialized. After a second opinion from Dr. Clarence Sasaki of Yale-New Haven Hospital on how best to treat her cancer, Ms. Zenk Pinter put herself into his hands. He performed a partial [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-11-30T11:47:23-07:00November, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Dentists your first defence in fight against oral cancer

Source: Timescolonist Author: Johnathan Skuba In 2003, an estimated 3,100 Canadians were newly diagnosed with oral cancer. That same year, 1,090 people died of the disease. In the U.S., oral cancer kills roughly one person per hour, 24 hours a day. Of those newly diagnosed, only half will survive five years later, and this terrifying death rate has not declined for decades. Those statistics are frightening, but the good news is that early detection plays a major role in preventing or curing oral cancers. The first line of defence is the dentist. They are specifically trained to recognize even subtle changes in the mouth and take action. Pre-malignant lesions usually manifest as white patches (leukoplakias) that can look like small calluses. They could be benign and nothing but skin thickened by trauma or normal wear and tear of oral tissues. Of greater concern are spots that become ulcers, bleed, rapidly change appearance or that are obviously getting larger. Red patches (erythroplakia) should also be examined as they too could represent cancerous tissue. If any such spots are present and either enlarge or don't improve within 10-14 days, or if they disappear and then recur, patients are advised to see their dentists as soon as possible. Once in the chair, patients will find that dentists do not take chances, especially when the spots appear in areas where normal trauma is unlikely, such as the soft palate of the mouth or under the tongue. When such spots are seen, and particularly when [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-11-09T12:23:32-07:00November, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Males can get HPV vaccine Gardasil thanks, in part, to Gulfport cancer survivor

Source: St. Petersburg Times Author: John Barry David Hastings' crusade to inoculate boys against a cancer-causing virus that afflicts women — but threatened him, too — has scored a victory. But it's not quite the one he has been fighting for in the past three years. A panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week allowed a vaccine to be given to boys and young men that is already used to protect girls and young women from human papillomavirus, HPV, which causes cervical cancer. The panel's vote followed the Food and Drug Administration's recent okay of the vaccine for boys as a protection against genital warts. The vaccine, Gardasil, was approved only for females, ages 9 to 26, in 2006. But research has since linked HPV to many oral cancers in men. Hastings, who owns the Habana Cafe in Gulfport with his wife, Josefa, testified before the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. He told them how HPV was found in a deadly carcinoma in his throat in 2006. It took seven weeks of simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa to arrest the cancer. Ever since, he has spread the message that HPV is a threat to men. He urged the CDC panel to recommend routine vaccinations for boys, as it already does for girls. Hastings and other proponents argued that only 17 percent of girls are completing the series of three doses needed for protection. "We rely on females [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-30T10:58:18-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Pinter opens up about private battle with cancer

Source: Fairfield Citizen Author: Morgan Thomas In the 31 years that Redding actress Colleen Zenk Pinter has played Barbara Ryan on As the World Turns, her character has been in a coma following an automobile accident, survived a gunshot wound, been burned to a crisp in an explosion and imprisoned for a crime she did not commit -- the stuff of soap writers' fecund imaginations. But when Barbara was "diagnosed" with oral cancer in 2008, the script was ripped from the real life drama of the actress who plays her and fact-checked with the Oral Cancer Foundation, for which Pinter is now the spokesperson. Warning the public about this little-known cancer and about a simple 3--5 minute screening your dentist can do has become a mission for Pinter. "The screening is painless," she said in an interview with the Westport News. "And you don't have to take your clothes off!" Oral cancer kills more people each year than cervical, skin or prostate cancer, yet when found early, there is an 80 to 90 percent survival rate. She took her private health battle public first on the CBS Early Show, filmed a PSA for the Oral Cancer Foundation, a birthday commercial for the American Cancer Society and has spoken before such groups as the 2009 graduating class. University's School of Dentistry. Pinter first noticed that her speech was slurring in December 2005 but her dentist assured the then 52-year-old actress that it was just her teeth shifting. Then in July 2006, [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-30T10:13:47-07:00October, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine fails to get nod for routine use in boys

Source: Medscape.com Author: Robert Lowes October 21, 2009 — Despite hearing impassioned pleas to protect both men and women from cancer, a federal advisory panel today declined to recommend that a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine be routinely administered to boys to prevent genital warts. Instead, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued a "permissive" recommendation stating that physicians have the option of vaccinating boys with the HPV vaccine Gardasil(Merck) for genital-wart protection. ACIP noted that boys should receive the vaccine "before exposure to HPV through sexual contact." In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil for use in girls and young women to prevent cervical and other cancers as well as precancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18. Last week, the FDA also approved Gardasil for use in males aged 9 through 26 to prevent genital warts. In making its recommendation today, ACIP appeared to be swayed in part by published research questioning the cost-effectiveness of routine vaccination of boys with Gardasil. The committee's decision has far-reaching economic effects because third-party payers typically pay for vaccinations that are recommended for routine use, but not those coming with a permissive recommendation. More at Stake Than Genital Wart Prevention Proponents of routine vaccination of boys with Gardasil told the committee Wednesday during the public comment period that more was at stake than merely preventing genital warts. They underlined the need to also prevent oral, throat, penile, and anal cancers caused by HPV. David Hastings, a spokesperson for the [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-26T09:22:06-07:00October, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

US advisers decline to push Gardasil for boys

Source: Reuters.com Author: Maggie Fox * Committee advises that doctors free to use vaccine * Says needs more evidence of cost benefit * Did not consider value in preventing cancer (Updates throughout, adds quotes, share price) WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. vaccine advisers declined to press for the use of Merck & Co's (MRK.N) Gardasil in boys and men, opting instead on Wednesday to simply advise doctors they are free to use it. Despite some impassioned pleas from patients and doctors alike, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted almost unanimously for "permissive" use of the vaccine for boys. It protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes a variety of cancers and genital warts. But the committee did recommend including Gardasil for eligible boys aged 9 to 18 in the Vaccines For Children program, a government-funded system that provides vaccines to children eligible for the state-federal Medicaid health insurance plan and other uninsured children. Merck's shares were down 1.7 percent at $33.16 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends Gardasil for girls 11 and 12 years old and women 13 to 26 who have not been vaccinated. Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Gardasil for preventing genital warts in boys and men ages 9 through 26. The main reason the vaccine was approved was to prevent cervical cancer, which kills 4,000 women a year in the United States alone. But various [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-21T14:45:00-07:00October, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Giving Gardasil to boys not worth the cost?

Source: HealthDay.com Author: Steven Reinberg But other experts dispute finding, and say young men need protection from STDs THURSDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- The cost of giving boys the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine would outweigh any health benefit, researchers say. Last month, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel recommended expanding use of the Gardasil vaccine to males aged 9 to 26 to protect them from genital warts, but the cost effectiveness of such a program was unclear at the time. But researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health conducted such an analysis comparing a girls-only vaccination program with a co-ed vaccination program. Currently, Gardasil is approved for girls aged 9 and over to protect them from cervical cancer. "This study found that while vaccine coverage and efficacy are high in girls, including boys in an HPV vaccination program generally exceeds what the U.S. typically considers good value for money," said lead researcher Jane Kim, an assistant professor of health decision science. The report is published in the Oct. 9 online edition of the British Medical Journal. Vaccination was considered a good value if cost-effectiveness ratios ranged from $50,000 to $100,000 per quality-adjusted life year, meaning the cost of the vaccine vs. the number of added years someone would gain by getting the vaccine. Assuming 75 percent coverage and lifelong protection, the researchers found routine vaccination of 12-year-old girls was a good value at less than $50,000 per quality-adjusted life year. However, adding preadolescent boys increased the cost-effectiveness ratio [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-12T11:54:27-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

A perk for coffee lovers: Java may lower oral cancer risk

Source: Scientificamerican.com Author: Katherine Harmon Raise high the coffee bean! Good news, coffee-drinkers: a new study shows your beverage of choice may lower your chances of getting oral, esophageal and pharyngeal (back-of-the-throat) cancer. Japanese researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week that people they studied who drank a cup or more of Joe daily had about a 50 percent less chance than non-imbibers of developing these cancers. The scientists based their findings on 13 years of data of some 38,000 people ages 40 to 64 with no history of cancer. According to the study, coffee drinking lowered the odds of these types of cancer even in people with high-risk behaviors (read: smoking and boozing). "Caffeine has been suggested to suppress the progression of tumor cells," senior study author Toru Naganuma, an epidemiological researcher at Japan's Tohoku University, toldScientificAmerican.com in an email. He noted that other studies have also linked moderate coffee drinking to reduced risk of liver cancer. "The evidence is pretty strong" in this research, says Ann Gillenwater, a professor of head and neck surgery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who was not involved in this study. But that doesn't mean you should start downing double espressos hourly. Recent research suggests that too much caffeine can lead to insomnia, anxiety and might up the risk of miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy. Besides, the study authors point out, caffeine alone is not the answer, noting that "high-level consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit" have also been linked to lower [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-09T11:05:27-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

CDC finds poisons in dissolvable tobacco products

Source: Notobacco Author: Staff Since the beginning of this year, Indianapolis has been a test market for new dissolvable tobacco products, mostly from Camel. These are smokeless, spit-free, made from finely milled tobacco, and held together by food-grade binders. They look like breath mints, breath strips, or toothpicks, and are designed to be placed in the mouth, on the tongue or between the cheek and gum, where they dissolve to release tobacco. Dissolvable tobacco products are now available in Daviess County in the form of Stonewall dissolvable tablets. The manufacturer, Star Scientific, states that Stonewalls are designed for heavy smokers and spit tobacco users. This company also makes Ariva brand dissolvable tablets. Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency feels the tobacco companies are illegally using Hoosiers as unwitting participants in a potentially dangerous clinical trial of these products since they were not tested for safety before being sold to the public, as food products, drugs, and cosmetics would be. Dissolvable tobacco products may contain up to three times the amount of nicotine found in one cigarette. A cigarette smoker typically takes in about 1 milligram of nicotine. Camel dissolvable products are said to deliver about 0.6 to 3.1 milligrams of nicotine each, Ariva tablets have about 1.5 millgrams of nicotine each, and Stonewall tablets have about 4 milligrams of nicotine each. People who use these products may get a higher dose of nicotine than they are used to, possibly resulting in nicotine poisoning, which manifests through adverse reactions such as tremors, [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-10-06T20:21:43-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

BioVex Agrees SPA With the FDA for a Pivotal Phase III Study With OncoVEX (GM-CSF) in Head and Neck Cancer

Source: PR Newswire Author: Staff WOBURN, Mass., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- BioVex Inc, a biotechnology company developing clinical stage treatments for cancer and the prevention of infectious disease, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the design of a single, pivotal, Phase III clinical trial evaluating its lead product, OncoVEX (GM-CSF), for the first-line treatment of patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. The study is the second the Company has agreed with the FDA under the Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) procedure and highlights the broad potential utility of BioVex's first-in-class cancer destroying virus technology. The first SPA was in melanoma under which BioVex is currently conducting a pivotal Phase III trial. Patients with head and neck cancer often present with locally advanced, bulky disease that is too large, or too close, to vital organs to remove surgically. These patients typically undergo combination radiation and chemotherapy treatment, in some cases with additional surgery. Patients who present with tumor-containing lymph nodes are particularly difficult to treat and approximately half of these patients relapse within two years. Philip Astley-Sparke, President & CEO, for BioVex said: "The announcement of our second SPA governing a Phase III study demonstrates the breadth of the commercial opportunity with OncoVEX (GM-CSF). In addition to treating metastatic disease as is the intention in our ongoing Phase 3 study in melanoma, following multiple systemic responses in Phase II, OncoVEX (GM-CSF) also has considerable potential utility in treating discrete solid tumor masses [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-09-16T16:29:05-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|