throat cancer

Best. Obit. Ever.

Source: News.Health.com This funny, surprising obituary was written by Val Patterson before he died of throat cancer earlier this month. I was Born in Salt Lake City, March 27th 1953. I died of Throat Cancer on July 10th 2012. I went to six different grade schools, then to Churchill, Skyline and the U of U. I loved school, Salt Lake City, the mountains, Utah. I was a true Scientist. Electronics, chemistry, physics, auto mechanic, wood worker, artist, inventor, business man, ribald comedian, husband, brother, son, cat lover, cynic. I had a lot of fun. It was an honor for me to be friends with some truly great people. I thank you. I’ve had great joy living and playing with my dog, my cats and my parrot. But, the one special thing that made my spirit whole, is my long love and friendship with my remarkable wife, my beloved Mary Jane. I loved her more than I have words to express. Every moment spent with my Mary Jane was time spent wisely. Over time, I became one with her, inseparable, happy, fulfilled. I enjoyed one good life. Traveled to every place on earth that I ever wanted to go. Had every job that I wanted to have. Learned all that I wanted to learn. Fixed everything I wanted to fix. Eaten everything I wanted to eat. My life motto was: “Anything for a Laugh”. Other mottos were “If you can break it, I can fix it”, “Don’t apply for a job, [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-07-19T09:14:20-07:00July, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

The Dangers of Self Diagnosis via the Internet

Source: ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Do you have a rash and a sore throat? A high fever? A splitting headache? Forget spending time and money on seeing a doctor - there is a plethora of internet sites that will help you diagnose your own illness for free. Simply answer a series of questions about your age, body measurements and symptoms and the internet will do the rest. The Australian Medical Association says it's seriously concerned with the increasing number of WA residents who are doing just that. Last year, a study found nearly 80 per cent of Australians get health information off the net, with almost half of those doing so to diagnose a medical condition. The AMA's Doctor Richard Chong says those statistics seem to reflect local trends in WA. "Every single day I see patients that have come to me after checking their symptoms on the internet," he said. "I accept that it's a part of life now due to the sheer number of people who're more familiar with the internet. "To be honest, most people who do it aren't harmed." "They rush in thinking they have something that's going to kill them when they're actually fine." Dr Chong is, however, concerned about people who don't go to their GP because their research has reassured them that nothing's wrong. "At least with the first group of people, we get to discuss their symptoms because they always come in," he said. "The people that don't are the ones [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-23T09:27:03-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Genes May Link Disparate Diseases

Source: The Wall Street Journal Diseases that strike different parts of the body—and that don't seem to resemble each other at all—may actually have a lot in common. Scientists have identified the genetic basis for many separate diseases. Now, some researchers are looking at how the genes interact with each other. They are finding that a genetic abnormality behind one illness may also cause other, seemingly unrelated disorders. Sometimes diseases are tangentially linked, having just one gene in common. But the greater the number of shared genetic underpinnings a group of diseases has, the greater the likelihood a patient with one of the illnesses will contract another. Researchers have found evidence, for example, that there is a close genetic relationship between Crohn's disease, a gastrointestinal condition, and Type 2 diabetes, despite the fact the two conditions affect the body in very distinct ways. Other illnesses with apparently close genetic links are rheumatoid arthritis and Type 1 diabetes, the form of the disease that usually starts in childhood, says Joseph Loscalzo, chairman of the department of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. This network approach, known among scientists as systems biology, could change the way medical specialists view and treat disease, according to some researchers. Rather than only looking to repair the parts of the body that are directly affected by illness, "we should be looking at what the wiring diagram [inside of cells] looks like," says Albert-László Barabási, a physicist at Northeastern University's Center for Complex Network Research [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-02T10:33:24-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

New Throat Cancer Gene Uncovered

Source: Science Daily Researchers at King's College London and Hiroshima University, Japan, have identified a specific gene linked to throat cancer following a genetic study of a family with 10 members who have developed the condition. The study, published March 8 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, uncovered a mutation in the ATR gene, demonstrating the first evidence of a link between abnormality in this gene and an inherited form of cancer. The researchers say this finding raises new ideas about genetic factors linked to throat cancer and provides a platform for exploring the role of ATR more generally in cancer biology. Scientists carried out a genome-wide linkage study in a US family with an unusual hereditary condition affecting 24 members of the family over five generations. Characteristics include developmental abnormalities of hair, teeth and nails as well as dilated skin blood vessels. Strikingly, nearly every person with the condition involved in the study had developed throat cancer (oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma) in their 20s or 30s. The team took blood samples from 13 members of the affected family, as well as samples from 13 unaffected people. After analysing these samples they found a single mutation in ATR was present in all the people with the condition, but none of the unaffected people had the mutation. Ten of the 13 people with the condition had developed throat cancer. Professor John McGrath from the King's College London Genetic Skin Disease Group at St John's Institute of Dermatology, based at Guy's [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-09T15:03:16-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Kenneth Price dies at 77; artist transformed traditional ceramics

Source: Los Angeles Times Kenneth Price was among the first generation of iconoclastic L.A. artists to attain international stature. His work with glazed and painted clay was 'resolutely original' and redefined contemporary sculpture, an observer says. Kenneth Price, a prolific Los Angeles artist whose work with glazed and painted clay transformed traditional ceramics while also expanding orthodox definitions of American and European sculpture, died early Friday at his home and studio in Taos, N.M. He was 77. Price had struggled with tongue and throat cancer for several years, his food intake restricted to liquids supplied through a feeding tube. Despite his infirmity, he continued to produce challenging new work and to mount critically acclaimed exhibitions at galleries in Los Angeles, New York and Europe. At the time of his death Price had completed preparations for a 50-year retrospective, scheduled to open at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the fall in an exhibition designed by architect Frank Gehry. The show will travel to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A 1992 retrospective traveled from the Menil Collection in Houston to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In the decades following World War II, Price was among the first generation of iconoclastic L.A. artists to attain international stature. Three Price sculptures were on view in "Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970," a survey of 47 leading postwar artists that closed this month at theJ. Paul [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-27T12:28:51-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Queensland researchers make cancer treatment breakthrough

Source: HealthCanal.com The culmination of 10 years of collaborative research between scientists from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) and The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine has led to a significant breakthrough in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), an aggressive throat cancer with a high prevalence in South-East Asia. NPC is associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection in a manner similar to the association of hepatitis B virus and liver cancer. By using immunotherapy, the human body’s own immune system was used to successfully fight the disease. Professor Rajiv Khanna who heads the Australian Centre for Vaccine Development at QIMR said by enhancing the immune cells of NPC patients they have doubled the survival time of terminally ill patients. “The presence of EBV in the cancer cells gives the body’s immune system a definite target to help battle the NPC, resulting in few side-effects,” Professor Khanna said. “Patients who participated in the trial were in the late stages of the cancer and quite unwell, so it was important to ensure the treatment was non-invasive, non toxic and did not damage healthy cells. “By offering such targeted treatment, we were able to increase the expected time of patient survival from 200 to over 500 days, which is an extremely positive result. “We believe that if we offer this treatment in the earlier stages of NPC, accompanied with chemotherapy and radiation, we can further enhance survival rates.” Twenty four NPC patients were recruited at the [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-01T17:06:54-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Sex Cancer Virus More Common in Men Than Women, Study Finds

Source: Bloomberg.com About 10 percent of men and 3.6 percent of women are orally infected with human papillomavirus, which is acquired through oral sex and can cause cancer. There are two peaks in the age people are infected -- 30 to 34 and 60 to 64, according to the study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The virus is linked to throat cancer, and is becoming a more common cause of the disease as Americans quit smoking. The virus, called HPV, is the most-common sexually transmitted virus in the U.S., where half the population will be infected at some time in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is known to cause cervical, vulvar, vaginal, penile and anal cancer. The higher HPV infection rate in men explains why their head and neck cancer rates are greater, said Maura Gillison, a professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. “This provides pretty strong evidence that the higher infection rate is the reason why,” said Gillison, the study’s lead author, in a telephone interview. “This is a jumping board for additional research.” Besides sex, other demographics associated with oral HPV infection include age, lifetime number of sex partners, and the number of cigarettes smoked each day. The research is the first population-based study to examine how many men and women were infected, Gillison said. Existing Vaccines Though Merck & Co.’s Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)’s Cervarix target genital HPV, it’s [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-01-26T10:10:18-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

New Indicator May Help Identify Patients With Increased Risk From Throat Cancer

Source: Marketwatch.com ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Independent of other factors, such as smoking history and HPV status, matted lymph nodes appear to signal increased chance of oropharyngeal cancer spreading to other parts of the body. Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have found a new indicator that may predict which patients with a common type of throat cancer are most likely have the cancer spread to other parts of their bodies. Patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma who had "matted" lymph nodes - nodes that are connected together - had a 69 percent survival rate over three years, compared to 94 percent for patients without matted nodes, according to a study published online ahead of print publication in Head & Neck. The oropharynx is an area that includes the back of the tongue, soft palate, throat and tonsils. "The spread of cancer throughout the body accounts for about 45 percent of the deaths from oropharyngeal carcinoma," says the study's senior author, Douglas B. Chepeha, M.D., M.S.P.H., an associate professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at the U-M Medical School. "Our findings may help doctors identify patients who are at higher risk for having their cancer metastasize and who would benefit from additional systemic therapy. Conversely, some patients without matted nodes may benefit from a reduction of the current standard treatment, which would cut down on uncomfortable side effects." Notably, the findings indicate an increased risk independent of other established prognostic factors, [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-01-16T10:04:24-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Girls-Only Vaccine Could Be Best Weapon Against HPV

Source: Jezebel.com A new study argues that vaccinating boys against HPV isn't the best use of resources, since vaccinating more girls will actually lead to a greater reduction in overall infections. However, there are also political implications to consider. Back in October, I wrote that the rise of HPV-related throat cancer in men was an excellent argument for vaccinating boys against the virus. And later that month, the CDC extended its vaccine recommendation to include boys as well as girls. But now, researchers say that focusing on vaccinating more members of one sex may be more effective than trying to vaccinate both. In a study published in PLoS Medicine, Johannes A. Bogaards used mathematical modeling to determine which vaccination strategy would lead to the greatest reduction in HPV prevalence. They found that increasing the percentage of girls vaccinated would actually have the biggest effect. Bogaards et al write, "We show that, once routine vaccination of one sex is in place, increasing the coverage in that sex is much more effective in bolstering herd immunity than switching to a policy that includes both sexes. Universal vaccination against HPV should therefore only become an option when vaccine uptake among girls cannot be further increased. Adding boys to current vaccination programs seems premature, because female coverage rates still leave ample room for improvement in most countries that have introduced HPV vaccination. So far, only three countries have achieved a three-dose coverage of 70% or more in females." The authors do note that while [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-22T14:15:49-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

The one thing Rick Perry did right: A shot that stops cancer, the politics of sex and HPV prevention

Source: CultureMap.com I don’t like Rick Perry — I never voted for him and worked actively to try to oust him — but in 2006 he tried to do something good for young girls in Texas. He tried to mandate vaccinations for sixth grade girls with a drug that prevented HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), the devil behind cervical cancer. This virus is responsible for the deaths of 4,000 young women each year in the United States. When Perry announced his mandate, the shit hit the fan and his conservative base (which is most of the state) went ballistic. The social conservatives objected to the vaccine as an infringement on parental rights, and small government conservatives were alarmed at Perry’s aggressive use of executive power. Needless to say, Perry backed off, and the vaccine was off to a miserable start. Six years later, fewer than 33 percent of girls ages 11 to 26 have received all three doses of the HPV vaccine, and Perry is still paying a political price for it. Not just for girls Well, it now appears that boys aren’t “immune” from HPV’s effects. After all, girls have to get infected from somewhere, right? Doctors have observed that young men were getting throat cancers that were usually seen in older, tobacco-using men. Also, there was an increase in anal cancers. Who do you think the culprit behind this was? HPV. It turns out that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease: between 75 and 80 percent of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-02T12:39:52-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|