Increasing incidence of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma in young white women, age 18 to 44 years

Source: jco.ascopubs.org Authors: Sagar C. Patel et al. Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) and oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) in young white women, age 18 to 44 years. Patients and Methods: We analyzed incidence and survival data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute from 1975 to 2007 for OCSCC and OTSCC. Three cohorts were examined: all ages, age 18 to 44 years (ie, “young”), and age > 44 years. Individuals were stratified by sex and/or race. Percentage change (PC) and annual percentage change (APC) were calculated. Joinpoint regression analyses were performed to examine trend differences. Results: Overall, incidence of OCSCC was decreasing for all ages. However, incidence was increasing for young white women (PC, 34.8; APC, 2.2; P

In cancer survival, ‘mind matters,’ says expert

Source: www.medscape.com Author: staff Social support and psychologic/psychiatric interventions can improve survival in cancer but are "overlooked" in the treatment of the disease, argues a psychiatrist in an essay published in the February 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "A patient's personal mental management of the stresses associated with cancer" is a "natural ally" in the battle with this disease, writes David Spiegel, MD, from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California. "It is plausible that interventions providing emotional and social support at the end of life have a positive influence on physiological stress-response systems that affect survival," he writes, suggesting a mechanism of action. But another expert in the field of behavioral medicine noted that there is very little evidence of such survival benefit. "Social support almost certainly makes people feel better, which is hugely important, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did improve survival," said Richard Sloan, PhD, from the Division of Behavioral Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. But, he added, there is no strong body of evidence that treatments and services addressing social or emotional issues improve survival in the field of cancer. For instance, "I know of no study in cancer patients that shows that reducing depression improves survival," he said. "We should treat depression because it makes patients miserable, not because we think it may improve survival," he added. Dr. Sloan's great concern about [...]

2011-02-06T09:15:28-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Rash prediction in lung cancer?

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Maurie Markman, MD Hello. I am Dr. Maurie Markman from Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philadelphia. I wanted to briefly discuss with you a very interesting paper[1] that appeared online in The Lancet Oncology on December 20th, 2010, and will be in print soon. The paper was entitled "First-Cycle Rash and Survival in Patients With Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Receiving Cetuximab in Combination With First-Line Chemotherapy: A Subgroup Analysis of Data From the FLEX Phase 3 Study." This was a very interesting subgroup analysis -- a retrospective analysis. What the group of investigators attempted to look at was the impact on a patient who received cetuximab and developed a rash compared with individuals who received cetuximab and did not develop a rash. And, of course, the other control group here would be the patients who received chemotherapy without cetuximab. What this retrospective analysis demonstrated was that overall survival in patients who received combination chemotherapy plus cetuximab and who developed a rash was significantly longer in all of the subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer that were looked at (including squamous and adenocarcinoma), compared with chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy plus cetuximab and no development of a rash. These data, which are quite provocative and need to be confirmed by others, suggest that the development of a rash may be a reasonable clinical biomarker of the potential impact of this targeted agent on cancer. That is, the development of a rash suggests that there is going to be [...]

Three-drug combination shows long-lasting survival benefit in head and neck cancer patients

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: staff Adding a third drug (docetaxel) to a standard two-drug initial chemotherapy regimen significantly improves the long-term survival of patients with head and neck cancer, reducing the likelihood of dying by 26% over 6 years. The long-term results of the TAX 324 trial published Online First in The Lancet Oncology, confirm that this three-drug regimen should become the standard of care for patients who are suitable for induction therapy. Every year, cancers of the head and neck are diagnosed in more than 40 000 people in the USA. Standard treatment for these patients involves combining radiotherapy and chemotherapy with or without surgery, and the addition of induction chemotherapy has been shown to prolong survival. However, the best ways of combining these treatments remains unclear. In recent years, cisplatin plus fluorouracil (PF) has become a standard induction chemotherapy combination and has been shown to significantly prolong survival. The TAX 324 trial was designed to establish whether the addition of docetaxel to initial chemotherapy with cisplatin and fluorouracil (PF) might help patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer live longer. Between May 1999 and December 2003, 501 patients were recruited from 55 centres across the USA, Canada, Argentina, and Europe. In 2007, initial results (minimum follow-up 2 years) showed that induction chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, and fluorouracil (TPF) significantly improved survival compared with PF. To establish the durability of this survival benefit, Jochen Lorch from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA and colleagues evaluated the long-term follow-up of [...]

PMI Labs lowers price of oral cancer brush biopsy test

Source: www.marketwire.com/ Author: press release PMI Labs is excited to announce that the price of OralAdvance™, the Company's innovative test designed to detect early stage oral cancer, is lowered by 35% as a result of the completion of the next generation quantitative cytology analysis platform, ClearCyte™. The redesigned and reengineered ClearCyte™ platform allows for faster processing time, increased scalability and improved overall performance. The per-slide scanning time of the machine has been reduced by more than 65% delivering a yearly scanning capacity of over 40,000 samples per device. PMI Labs is thrilled to pass on the savings to our customers in our ongoing effort to raise awareness for oral cancer screening. "With the increase of oral cancer cases among young adults, we hope that this initiative will provide more accessibility of OralAdvance™ to all Canadians; thus allowing health professionals to detect oral cancer in its early stages and provide care for a better chance of survival. Oral cancer screening should become a standard practice in dental offices nation-wide to save lives through early detection. We believe that our products, along with our oral cancer awareness campaign, SaveTheFace.org, will help achieve these goals," comments Dr. Bojana Turic, PMI Labs - President and CEO. OralAdvance™ is used by dentists to assess the cancerous potential of suspicious lesions in the oral cavity. Cells are collected from areas that look like they may be pre-cancer using OralAdvance™'s easy-to-use brush. These cells are then assessed at PMI Labs' Vancouver laboratory to determine whether they have [...]

Lilly presents new data in head and neck cancer – a difficult to treat cancer with poor survival rates

Source: www.prnewswire.com Author: press release Eli Lilly and Company announced today that its global Phase III trial evaluating Alimta® (pemetrexed for injection) in combination with cisplatin in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (SCCHN) did not meet its primary endpoint for overall survival. Data were presented for the first time today at the 35th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). The Phase III study, the largest trial conducted in SCCHN to date, evaluated Alimta in combination with cisplatin compared with placebo plus cisplatin given every three weeks in a total of 795 patients. The primary objective of the study was to determine overall survival. Patient quality of life was also assessed, in addition to several pre-planned sub-group analyses. The Alimta/cisplatin regimen showed a median overall survival of 7.3 months compared with 6.3 months with cisplatin alone, a result not considered a statistically significant improvement (p=0.082). There was no significant difference in the quality of life scores for patients treated with either ALIMTA/cisplatin or cisplatin alone (p=0.200). As a result, Lilly will not be submitting marketing authorization applications for Alimta in SCCHN with either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicine Agency (EMA). "The fact that combination treatment with pemetrexed and cisplatin did not improve overall survival in this study is disappointing, although perhaps not surprising given how difficult it can be to effectively treat metastatic or locally advanced head and neck cancer," said the study's [...]

ASCO: Second study links HPV to mouth cancer outcomes

Source: www.medpagetoday.com/ Author: Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection predicts a better chance of survival in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, researchers said. In a retrospective analysis of a major radiation therapy trial, more than four-fifths of patients whose tumors were HPV-positive were alive three years after treatment, according to Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, of Ohio State University in Columbus, and colleagues. In contrast, fewer than six of 10 patients with HPV-negative tumors were still alive at the three-year mark, Gillison and colleagues reported online in the New England Journal of Medicine, in an article released to coincide with a presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting here. The study follows a report earlier at the meeting that found a similar pattern among patients enrolled in a chemotherapy trial. The virus is, of course, well known to cause cervical cancer. The New England Journal study adds to the evidence that "HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma represents a distinct clinicopathological entity associated with a better prognosis than HPV-negative oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma," said Douglas Lowy, MD, of the NIH, and Karl Munger, PhD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Writing in an accompanying editorial, Lowy and Munger argued that if the diseases are distinct, "their treatment or prevention might benefit from different approaches." One possibility, they said, would be to target HPV proteins to treat the disease in some patients, while prevention might involve vaccination against the virus. Gillison and colleagues looked at the [...]

No need to fear!

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff Patients with dental phobias will now be able to relax in the dentist’s chair, as new brain calming technology can help de–stress those with even the worst fears. New equipment developed by neuroscientists in America is being introduced in dental surgeries in the UK to help calm patients who suffer anxiety during treatments. The new equipment, named NuCalm, induces a state of deep relaxation using systems know as Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES). A generator is connected to a headset worn by the patient and transmits relaxing electrical and sound frequencies to the brain. After five minutes brain waves slow down to a state which is associated with meditation, sleep and deep relaxation. Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter said of the new technology: “This is a great step forward. A recent survey we conducted for National Smile Month found that one in four people do not visit the dentist because of a phobia. If people know they will be ok when they’re in the chair, that they won’t be overcome by anxiety, it could be enough to encourage more people to go on a regular basis.” Dr Carter added: “It is vital people go for regular dental check–ups. Dentists are at the forefront of oral health–care and are the best source for discovering serious problems such as mouth cancer and gum disease. “Mouth cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the UK, with 5,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. If [...]

Enzyme predictive of head and neck cancer survival

Source: www.insidermedicine.ca Author: staff Scientists have identified an enzyme that may predict survival from head and neck cancer, according to a report presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Researchers analyzed tissue samples from over 100 squamous carcinoma patients, finding that those with low levels of the enzyme ERCC1 had increased chances of surviving the cancer following adjuvant therapy.

Genmab to review clinical plans for head and neck cancer candidate after mixed results from phase III trial

Source: www.genengnews.com Author: staff Genmab is reporting that Phase III results of its antibody for head and neck cancer, zalutumumab, showed that the treatment did not increase overall survival enough for it to be statistically significant but did significantly boost progression-free survival. The company says that it is evaluating its development program in this indication in light of this data. Zalutumumab is a human antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor. The Phase III trial evaluated the treatment in 286 patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who failed standard platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients were randomized to receive either zalubumuab in combination with best supportive care (BSC) or BSC alone. Data showed that median overall survival in the zalutumumab plus BSC group was 6.7 months compared with 5.2 months for the BSC-only group. Genmab points out that although this represented a 30% improvement, the increase was not sufficient to demonstrate a statistically significant difference in survival. However, patients in the zalutumumab cohort did demonstrate a 61% increase in progression-free survival compared with those in the BSC-only arm. “The progression-free survival data indicates that zalutumumab can provide a benefit to these cancer patients, and we will review with our clinical advisors and the regulatory agencies how to best proceed with this product,” says Lisa N. Drakeman, Ph.D., Genmab CEO. Zalutumumab is also undergoing Phase I/II trials as a treatment for advanced head and neck cancer either in combination with chemo-radiation or in combination with radiotherapy in [...]

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