survival rate – Page 2 – Oral Cancer News

Collaboration of major biomedical centers has shown convergence on a cellular process for head and neck cancers

Source: www.rxpgnews.com Author: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard 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 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-02T11:40:36-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

With HPV-related head and neck cancers rising, focus on treatment and vaccination

Source: blogs.wsj.com/health Author: Laura Landro A form of head and neck cancer associated with the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus is on the rise, especially in men, the WSJ reports. Fast-rising rates of oropharyngeal cancer — tumors in the tonsil and back-of-the-tongue area — have been linked to changes in sexual behavior that include the increased practice of oral sex and a greater number of sexual partners. But HPV-positive cancer has also been reported in individuals who report few or no sexual partners. It may also be possible for the virus to be transmitted to an infant via an infected mother’s birth canal. An HPV vaccine is routinely recommended for girls because the virus can cause cervical cancer. The rise in HPV-positive head and neck cancers is leading to a new focus both on treatment of the disease, and whether recommending routine vaccination for boys could prevent oral infections and cancers. (A CDC advisory panel said in 2009 that it was fine for boys to get the vaccine, but recommended against routine administration.) Eric Genden, chief of head and neck oncology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, tells the Health Blog that when treated appropriately, patients with HPV-positive cancers have an 85% to 90% disease-free survival rate over five years. By contrast, patients with HPV-negative head and neck cancers, which are often associated with smoking and drinking, typically have more advanced disease when the cancer is detected and face a five-year survival rate of only 25% to 40%, Genden says. HPV-induced head [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-31T14:23:46-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Recurrence of oral cancer found to signal poor outcome

Source: health.usnews.com Author: staff How people fare when oral cancer recurs depends on where and when the cancer returns, a new study has found. The research included 77 people in Australia who'd had oral squamous cell carcinoma, a cancer that occurs in the thin, flat cells that line the lips and mouth. The cancer was treated with surgery, radiation or both. However, the cancer came back, and they all subsequently had what's called salvage surgery, which is a procedure to remove cancer after an initial treatment fails. The researchers found that people whose cancer recurred at the same site as the initial cancer tended to do worse if the disease returned within six months, whereas those with recurrence at a different site did worse if their cancer came back after six months or more. The overall five-year survival rate after salvage surgery was 50 percent. People who had initially had both surgery and radiation were 1.3 times as likely to die, the investigators found. The median, or midpoint, in time to recurrence was 7.5 months after treatment, and 86 percent of the recurrences occurred within 24 months, the study found. Recurrence occurred at the initial site in 39 people, in the neck on the same side as their initial cancer in 27 people and in the neck on the opposite side in 11 people. "Presumably, the poor outcome reflects a combination of more advanced disease at initial presentation, resistant tumor biology and limited salvage options," wrote Michael D. Kernohan and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-27T16:16:26-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Can saliva-based HPV tests establish cancer risk and guide patient management?

Source: Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology doi:10.1016 Author: Mark W. Lingen, DDS, PhD Section Editor, Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the 6th most common malignancy in the world today.1 Despite numerous advances in treatment, the 5-year survival rate has remained modest. This poor outcome is due to several factors, including delayed diagnosis. Therefore, improved early detection and effective prevention strategies are critical components for management of this malignancy. The etiology of classical HNSCC has been attributed to chronic exposure to tobacco and alcohol.2 In addition, there is now sufficient evidence to support the contention that high-risk forms of the human papillomavirus (HPV) are a major causative factor for HNSCC of the tonsil, base of tongue, and oropharynx.3-8 The increasing importance of HPV in oropharyngeal HNSCC has raised considerable concern and uncertainty among healthcare professionals and patients. For example, I am often asked to describe the clinical features of HPV-associated premalignant lesions. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, the clinical spectrum of HPV-associated premalignant disease has not been adequately described. Furthermore, because this subset of HNSCC often develops in hard to- examine locations, such as tonsillar crypts, it can be exceedingly difficult to even identify the carcinomas. In the absence of such information, how can clinicians identify patients that are at increased risk for harboring an HPV-associated premalignant lesions or HNSCC? Recently, a large commercial diagnostic lab began offering a saliva-based test for the identification of oral HPV infections. As a result of this new offering, I [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-08-31T12:09:37-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Maximal standard uptake value predicted survival outcomes

Source: www.hemonctoday.com Author: Christen Haigh Maximal standardized uptake value measured from FDG PET readings from the primary tumor of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck predicted disease-specific survival, overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS). Additionally, pretreatment maximal standardized uptake value, or SUVmax, for lymphadenopathy was associated with distant metastasis, according to the findings of a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Chandler, Ariz. “FDG PET scan before treatment for head and neck cancer may help to guide future treatment of patients with high SUV in the tumor and node,” Min Yao, MD, PhD, radiation oncologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, said during a news briefing. Researchers conducted a retrospective study of 295 patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy. There were 177 patients who had FDG PET pretreatment and had SUVmax for primary tumor and/or lymphadenopathy (SUV-LN). The three-year local recurrence-free survival rate was 95%; the regional recurrence-free survival rate was 95% and the local-regional recurrence-free survival rate was 92.6%. The three-year distant metastasis-free survival and disease-specific survival rates were both 78.8%. DFS was 63.95% and OS was 67.4%. Primary tumor SUVmax was significantly associated with DFS and OS. A strong association was noted for DFS as well, according to researchers. The three-year distant metastasis-free survival rate was 82.1% when SUV-LN was less than 11.3% and 63.4% when SUV-LN was greater than 11.3. “The findings of this study show that we may use SUV before treatment to personalize [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-03-01T19:08:50-07:00March, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Post-treatment pain in head and neck cancer patients may be associated with recurrence, lower survival rate

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: staff Patients with head and neck cancer who experience a higher level of post-treatment pain appear to have a lower survival rate than those who experience little or no post-treatment pain, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Pain is an important but infrequently analyzed symptom in head and neck cancer and may play a predictive role in recurrence and survivorship outcomes," according to background information in the article. "Failure to investigate substantial changes in pain symptoms or new-onset pain that develops following treatment may potentially delay the diagnosis of recurrent disease." Joseph Scharpf, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, examined results from 339 patients who participated in the Department of Otolaryngology's Outcomes Assessment Project, conducted between 1998 and 2001. Participants provided information about their health and quality of life at diagnosis and three, six, nine and 12 months later. Participants also rated their post-treatment pain at follow-up. Of the 339 patients, 233 were men (68.7 percent) with an average age of 60.8. "Most had primary disease (84.4 percent), advanced-stage disease (59.9 percent) and oral cavity (42.2 percent) or laryngeal (23.3 percent) tumors. Most received surgical treatment alone (37.2 percent) or combined with radiotherapy," the authors write. "Pain was associated with age, general physical and mental health conditions, depressive symptoms, survival rate and recurrence within the first year," the authors note. "The five-year survival rate was 81.8 percent for patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-08-18T17:58:16-07:00August, 2009|Oral Cancer News|