radiation – Page 5 – Oral Cancer News

Israeli company set to begin testing new radiation cancer therapy

Source: www.forbes.com Author: Robin Seaton Jefferson An Israeli medical technology company is set to begin testing its new radiation cancer therapy in leading medical centers in Italy. The Alpha DaRT (Dіffusіng Alpha-emіtters Radіatіon Therapy) device delivers high-precision alpha radiation that is released when radioactive substances decay inside the tumor and kills cancer cells while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue, the company says. The company hopes to get approval from the European Commission by next year for the therapy. Early results from an ongoing pre-clinical trial on patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tumors at the Rabin Medical Center in Israel and the IRST (Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori) in Italy showed a reduction in all tumor sizes and more than 70 percent of the tumors completely disappearing within a few weeks after treatment, NoCamels reported. The therapy has already been tested on more than 6,000 animals and has been found “to be effective and safe for various indications, including tumors considered to be resistant to standard radiotherapy.” according to the breakthrough innovation news site NoCamels. Alpha Tau Medical was founded in 2016 to focus on research and development as well as commercialization of its Alpha DaRT cancer treatment. The therapy was initially developed in 2003 by Professors Itzhak Kelson and Yona Keisari at Tel Aviv University. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), cancers that are known collectively as head and neck cancers, or squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, usually begin [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-11-27T07:52:21-07:00November, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

A Look at Therapy Toxicities & Biology in Head & Neck Cancers

Source: journals.lww.com Author: Valerie Neff Newitt A measure of intrigue and discovery pertaining to head and neck cancer, spiked with compassion for patients struggling against treatment toxicities, helps quench the intellectual thirst of Yvonne Mowery, MD, PhD, Butler Harris Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Splitting time between the clinic and laboratory, Mowery is actively engaged in patient care as well as preclinical, translational, and clinical research. “I hope to get a better understanding of the biology of head and neck cancer and determine pathways that we can target to reduce metastatic spread of the disease and improve responsiveness to available treatments,” she told Oncology Times. Long before reaching her current status as an award-winning investigator, Mowery grew up in Richmond, Va., in the midst of a “completely non-scientific” family. “I was an oddball,” she joked, while recalling her parents' patience with her backyard composting experiments that became so foul-smelling that the health department was contacted. As a kid, her idea of a great present was an encyclopedia of science, and the thing that caught her eye at the toy store was a junior chemistry set. Science was clearly her path when she headed to the University of Virginia. In her sophomore year, Mowery began working in a genetics lab. That's where the lure of fruit flies took hold. “I looked at the development of their reproductive system and found that very interesting,” she recalled. Nearing the completion of her undergraduate education, Mowery debated [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-11-04T07:47:45-07:00November, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Lowering Radiation Dose Could Improve QoL, Cut Costs in Oral Ca

Source: MedPage Today, Medpage.com Date: October 25th, 2018 Author: Elizabeth Hlavinka SAN ANTONIO -- Radiation de-intensification was tied to a quicker rebound in a number of quality of life (QoL) measures and reduced costs for patients with HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer, a pair of studies found. With lower doses of radiotherapy (RT), QoL measures including speech, pain, and socialization still generally worsened after treatment, but returned to baseline within 3 to 6 months, reported Kevin Pearlstein, MD, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. And more aggressive de-intensification led to a 22% cost reduction for treatment overall ($45,884 versus $57,845 with standard care), with 33% lower costs for RT itself and 50% lower costs for post-treatment care (P=0.01), according to findings presented by Mark Waddle, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. The studies were presented here at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting during a session on improving outcomes while minimizing toxicity in oropharyngeal cancer. In the research from Pearlstein's group, patients reported global QoL scores of 81 at baseline (using the 100-point EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, where higher scores connote better health), which dipped to 69 at 3 months post-treatment, then rose to 75 at 6 months. Global QoL scores increased to 82 and 84 by months 12 and 24, respectively. Common long-term side effects such as sticky saliva, taste, and ability to swallow did not return to baseline within months 3 to 6, but continued to improve between months 12 and 24. Pearlstein noted [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-10-25T15:18:41-07:00October, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

RJR Slapped with $6.5M verdict over musician’s mouth cancer

Source: blog.cvn.com Author: Arlin Crisco R.J. Reynolds was hit with a $6.5 million verdict Tuesday for the part jurors found the company played in the mouth cancer a Florida musician developed after years of smoking. Harewood v. R.J. Reynolds, 2007-CA-46331. The award followed the Florida 11th Circuit Court jury’s conclusion that nicotine addiction and cigarettes caused the oral cancer doctors diagnosed Glenn Simmons with in 1995. Simmons, a bassist in bands throughout much of his life, began smoking as a teenager and smoked about a pack a day for decades. He died in 2003, at age 48, from complications related to cancer-related radiation therapy. Monday's verdict found Reynolds liable on fraud and conspiracy claims related to a sweeping scheme to hide the dangers of cigarettes. However, while jurors awarded Simmons' daughter, Hanifah Harewood $6.5 million in compensatory damages, they rejected a claim for punitives in the case. The case is one of thousands of Florida’s Engle progeny lawsuits against the nation’s tobacco companies. They stem from a 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision decertifying Engle v. Liggett Group Inc., a class-action tobacco suit originally filed in 1994. Although the state’s supreme court ruled that Engle progeny cases must be tried individually, it found plaintiffs could rely on certain jury findings in the original case, including the determination that tobacco companies had placed a dangerous, addictive product on the market and had conspired to hide the dangers of smoking through much of the 20th century. In order to be entitled to those [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-20T19:26:41-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Head and neck Cancer: Overcoming Challenges in Treatment

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: staff Itzhak Brook, M.D., M.Sc., shares the story of his initial diagnosis and treatment for cancer of the head and neck, outlining the challenges that came along with treatment, with fellow board member of the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance Meryl Kaufman, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-S. Transcript: Meryl Kaufman, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-S: Dr. Brook, can you please share your story about your cancer diagnosis in 2006 and the treatment that followed and also the subsequent surgery that you went through? Itzhak Brook, M.D., M.Sc.: Once I learned I had cancer and my doctors removed it when they had to biopsy, I needed to receive radiation therapy. I did not get any chemotherapy, and the radiation therapy lasted six weeks, five days a week. It was very difficult to experience the radiation, and the side effects start to accumulate within a few days. And I had to deal with inflammation of the mouth, mucositis, difficulty in swallowing and pain in my throat, and I experienced a burning of the skin around the area of radiation, weakness and then difficulty maintaining intake of food. After a while, I could lose weight, and I tried to persevere because I knew that I had to receive the treatment to get better and soldier through it until it was over. Meryl Kaufman, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-S: Exactly. And some people have such severe side effects from the radiation that they actually require a feeding tube to support them during their treatment. In that case, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-04T13:05:32-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Head and neck cancer: Novel treatment approaches

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: staff Meryl Kaufman, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-S, and Itzhak Brook, M.D., M.Sc., board members of the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, share insight into the role of novel treatment approaches like immunotherapy, robotic surgery and de-escalation in the management of cancers of the head and neck. Transcript: Meryl Kaufman, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-S: Dr. Brook, traditionally the treatment for head and neck cancer has been surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or some combination of those three. But there are some new and emerging treatment approaches to head and neck cancer along with many other cancers. Can you tell us a little bit about immunology? What is immunotherapy in the care of the head and neck cancer patient? Itzhak Brook, M.D., M.Sc.: Most days, we don’t get cancer because our immune system is like the police department of our body. They detect cancer early and eliminate it. Unfortunately, in the case of cancer, the cancer cells can fool the immune system, and they go undetected and cause the disease. The main advantage of immunotherapy is that we are using the body’s defenses, the immune system, to kill the cancer in a much better way than the chemotherapy. Chemotherapy destroys the cancer cells, but it also affects the body cells. Immunotherapy is more precise. It is directed only to the cancer cells, so the rest of the body stays unscathed. That’s the beauty of immunotherapy. So, immunotherapy is an evolving field in cancer. They have many, many new drugs in the pipeline, and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-04T12:56:32-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer biology graduate student travels ‘ROCKy’ road toward a cure for post-radiation dry mouth

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: staff, University of Arizona The United States is in the midst of a head-and-neck cancer epidemic. Although survival rates are relatively high—after treatment with chemotherapy and radiation—survivors can suffer permanent loss of salivary function, potentially leading to decades of health problems and difficulties eating. It is unknown why the salivary gland sometimes cannot heal after radiation damage, but Wen Yu "Amy" Wong, BS, a University of Arizona cancer biology graduate student, may have taken a step toward solving that riddle. Radiation often comes with long-term or even permanent side effects. With a head-and-neck tumor in radiation's crosshairs, the salivary gland might suffer collateral damage. "When you get radiation therapy, you end up targeting your salivary glands as well," Wong said. Losing the ability to salivate predisposes patients to oral complications and an overall decrease in their quality of life. "Salivary glands help you digest food, lubricate your mouth and fight against bacteria. After radiation, patients could choke on their food because they can't swallow. They wake up in the middle of the night because their mouth is so dry. They often get cavities." Favorite foods may lose their flavor. "Saliva produces certain ions that help you taste," she said. "Patients lose the ability to enjoy food. The best steak is very bland to them." The quest to restore salivary function in post-radiation head-and-neck cancer patients starts with learning why the salivary gland is unable to heal itself after radiation damage. Wong's study may have helped to unravel [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-08-31T08:04:57-07:00August, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Smarter cancer treatment: AI tool automates radiation therapy planning

Source: news.engineering.utoronto.ca Author: Brian Tran Aaron Babier (MIE PhD candidate) demonstrates his AI-based software’s visualization capabilities. (Credit: Brian Tran) Beating cancer is a race against time. Developing radiation therapy plans — individualized maps that help doctors determine where to blast tumours — can take days. Now, Aaron Babier (MIE PhD candidate) has developed automation software that aims to cut the time down to mere hours. He, along with co-authors Justin Boutilier (MIE PhD 1T8), supervisor Professor Timothy Chan (MIE) and Professor Andrea McNiven (Faculty of Medicine) are looking at radiation therapy design as an intricate — but solvable — optimization problem. Their software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to mine historical radiation therapy data. This information is then applied to an optimization engine to develop treatment plans. The researchers applied this software tool in their study of 217 patients with throat cancer, who also received treatments developed using conventional methods. The therapies generated by Babier’s AI achieved comparable results to patients’ conventionally planned treatments. — and it did so within 20 minutes. The researchers recently published their findings in Medical Physics. “There have been other AI optimization engines that have been developed. The idea behind ours is that it more closely mimics the current clinical best practice,” says Babier. If AI can relieve clinicians of the optimization challenge of developing treatments, more resources are available to improve patient care and outcomes in other ways. Health-care professionals can divert their energy to increasing patient comfort and easing distress. “Right now [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-08-01T07:42:25-07:00August, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Silent no more: Woman lends voice to hope after cancer

Source: health.ucsd.edu Author: Yadira Galindo Singing hymns in church has always brought Cynthia Zamora joy. Today, her once sharp intonation has given way to a raspy voice. But Zamora is thankful that she has a voice at all after spending three months without the ability to utter even one syllable. “I miss going to church and singing with people,” said Zamora. “Although, if I am in the back I'm still singing. I'm just hoping they don't hear what sounds like a 13-year-old pubescent boy back there, because that's how I sound. I know God thinks it's beautiful, so I don't worry about it. I just go on with life.” In 2017, Zamora bit her tongue while sleeping, splitting her tongue nearly in half. She was referred to a specialist when her wound would not heal. They found a 5.4-centimeter tumor that enveloped more than half of her tongue. To save her life, her surgeon, Joseph Califano, MD, delivered grim news: Zamora would have to undergo a glossectomy — the surgical removal of all or part of the tongue. “By the time I saw her she was really having a hard time speaking and swallowing,” said Califano, director of the Head and Neck Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health. “With Cynthia that was a difficult discussion because it was unclear how much tongue we would save and how good the function would be with the remaining tongue that would be preserved.” A multidisciplinary team of experts that included medical oncology, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-10T10:03:53-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

State not allowed to investigate death at cancer center

Source: kdvr.com Author: Rob Low Lakewood, Colo. - When 80-year-old Virginia Cornelius died at a Rocky Mountain Cancer Care Centers' location in Lakewood on February 27, the on-site doctor insisted it must've been a heart attack. But the adult children of Cornelius aren't convinced and tell the FOX31 Problem Solvers their efforts to find the truth have been stymied, partly because cancer centers generally aren't regulated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Cornelius was receiving radiation treatment for cancer of the larynx in her throat. But her daughter, Susan Hutt, says her mother's general health on February 27 was fine. "They took her vital signs. They were better than mine," Hutt said. She said she was later told by a radiation tech that her mother was having trouble swallowing just before the procedure began but the treatment was allowed to continue anyway, when something went very wrong inside the patient room. "All the sudden the door flies open and a curtain and the therapist is screaming in the hall, somebody call 911, somebody find the doctor," remembered Hutt. Hutt and her brother Gary Cornelius always sat in a waiting area next to the radiation room for all of their mother's treatments having no idea that during every procedure their mother's hands were strapped to a bed. "We walk in and there is our mother on the table, hands restrained, the mask for radiation therapy with the oxygen that goes into it is up on a table, is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-06-22T07:59:49-07:00June, 2018|Oral Cancer News|