treatment – Page 2 – Oral Cancer News

Hospital Cancer Program Confronts The Existential

Source: huffingtonpost.comAuthor: Sasha Bronner People who battle stage 4 cancer are familiar with words like chemotherapy, radiation and metastasize. But words they may not hear at a hospital as often are existentialism, mindfulness, legacy and humor. Dr. Arash Asher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is dedicating his life to changing that. Asher, 38, is a physiatrist -- a rehab doctor. Before his new program, Asher focused his training on the physical aspects of cancer treatment -- things like cogitative rehab, and the management of pain and nausea. But a good number of patients kept coming back to him to talk about their deep and persistent fears. “We can treat someone’s physical pain, but I just felt like we weren’t doing enough as a system," Asher says. "An antidepressant will not solve the issue.” So Asher decided to create a rehabilitation program that focuses on the emotional fallout of cancer treatment. He recruited patients for the first course that began in mid-July and is currently in the fourth cycle of the program, called Growing Resiliency and Courage with Cancer, or GRACE. Two hours a week, for five weeks, seven to nine patients meet in a conference room at Cedars-Sinai with Asher and Jeffrey Wertheimer, a neuropsychologist who co-developed the program. The group focuses discussions on themes or lessons -- like wisdom, gratitude, humor, courage and legacy-creation. Patients are assigned homework reading, learn meditation techniques and conclude class with a piece on mindfulness. The emphasis on mindfulness has a basis [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-10-13T12:20:02-07:00October, 2014|OCF In The News|

AACR says that new drug may assist therapy for Head and Neck Cancer

Source: hcplive.comAuthor: THURSDAY, Sept. 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The investigational drug alpelisib (previously known as BYL719) appears to inhibit activation of the pathway that leads to resistance to cetuximab, an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor agent used in the treatment of head and neck cancer. These findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's special conference "Targeting the PI3K-mTOR Network in Cancer," held from Sept. 14 to 17 in Philadelphia. Pamela Munster, MD, of the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues tested the combination of BYL719 and cetuximab in vivo in a cetuximab-sensitive and a cetuximab-resistant xenograft model of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. In a phase Ib study, BYL719 was administered in combination with cetuximab in adults with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck that was resistant or intolerant to platinum-based chemotherapy; prior cetuximab therapy was allowed. The researchers found that the addition of BYL719 to cetuximab showed an additive effect in the cetuximab-sensitive model. BYL719 restored sensitivity to cetuximab in the cetuximab-resistant model. In the phase Ib study, as of March 10, 2014, 37 patients have received BYL719 and cetuximab, and the overall response rate is 11%. Based on the data from preclinical studies and the phase Ib study, the combination of alpelisib and cetuximab for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is being explored in a phase II study. "Treatment resistance is often conveyed through activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and alpelisib is an inhibitor of this pathway," [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-09-22T12:45:41-07:00September, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Many head and neck cancer patients can avoid neck surgery

Source: medicalxpress.comAuthor: Staff A new study shows that patients with human papillomavirus (HPV) – the same virus associated with both cervical and head and neck cancer – positive oropharyngeal cancer see significantly higher rates of complete response on a post-radiation neck dissection than those with HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer. Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers presented the findings at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's 56th Annual Meeting on Wednesday, September 17. "For patients that achieve a complete response, neck surgery is probably unnecessary," says Thomas J. Galloway, MD, Attending Physician and Director of Clinical Research at Fox Chase and lead author on the study. After radiation and chemotherapy to remove tumors from the tonsils or back of the tongue, many head and neck cancer patients still have persistent lumps in their neck, albeit perhaps smaller than when they were first diagnosed. "The question is: Do we need to remove those lumps, as well, or can we just let them dissolve on their own?" asks Dr. Galloway. To investigate, he and his colleagues reviewed the medical records from 396 patients whose oropharyngeal tumors had spread to at least one lymph node. Within 180 days after completing radiation therapy, 146 patients underwent neck surgery. For 99 patients, their records indicated whether or not their tumors had likely been triggered by HPV. Interestingly, patients with HPV often respond better to treatment for their oropharyngeal tumors than those without. The researchers noted the same trend here – people who tested positive for HPV (measured by the presence of a protein called [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-09-18T10:27:59-07:00September, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Antioxidants May Cause More Harm Than Good in Cancer Patients

Source: medscape.comAuthor: Zosia Chustecka While alternative health gurus often encourage increasing antioxidants in the diet and the taking of antioxidant nutritional supplements such as beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, and E, and selenium, new research findings suggest that antioxidants could do more harm than good, especially in cancer patients. The idea is discussed in a perspective article on the promise and perils of antioxidants for cancer patients in the July 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Coauthor David Tuveson, MD, PhD, professor and deputy director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center in New York, explained in an interview with Medscape Medical News that the idea that antioxidants could be useful in cancer goes back to Linus Pauling, and is based on observations that oxidation within cells is needed for cell growth. "As cancer cells growth rapidly, a cancer cell would have more oxidation within it than a normal cell," he added, and the hope was that antioxidants would interfere with these cellular oxidative processes and would suppress the growth. "Although some early preclinical studies supported this concept," the authors write, there have now been several clinical trials that have shown no effect of antioxidants on reducing the incidence of cancer, and there have even been suggestions of harm in persons who are at risk for cancer. Dr. Tuveson noted a clinical trial from Scandinavia in the early 1990s, which found that high doses of antioxidants, particularly beta-carotene, were associated with more lung cancer rather than less as had been hoped for. There was [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-07-14T15:04:19-07:00July, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Early nutrition intervention creates proactive approach for treating head and neck cancer patients

Author: Megan BrooksSource: medscape.com Oncologists treating patients with head and neck cancer are taking a proactive approach when it comes to home enteral nutrition support, a new study suggests. The study of 172 patients with gastrostomy tubes found that half had the feeding tubes placed prior to beginning treatment for head or neck cancer. Most of these patients were put on home enteral nutrition support to help them maintain their current weight during treatment, as opposed to being put on it after treatment to try to regain lost weight, researchers found. The study was presented at the Oncology Nursing Society 39th Annual Congress in Anaheim, California. An estimated 55,000 people in the United States develop head and neck cancers each year. "These patients have many nutritional concerns because of the location of the cancer, which often causes trouble swallowing," said investigator Noreen Luszcz, RD, MBA, CNSC, nutrition program director for Walgreens Infusion Services. "They can't eat, won't eat, or can't eat enough," she told Medscape Medical News. Many of these patients have impaired nutrition status at the time of diagnosis, she noted. In addition to losing weight prior to the diagnosis, they can lose 10% of their pretherapy body weight during treatment. Enteral nutrition can help head and neck cancer patients minimize weight loss, maintain quality of life, manage symptoms, and improve tolerance to treatment, Luszcz said. Home enteral nutrition coordinated by a multidisciplinary nutrition support team has been shown to be safe and beneficial in these patients, she added. Early Screening, Assessment [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-05-12T11:22:34-07:00May, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Trying to improve oral cancer treatment

Source: abclocal.go.com Author: staff It's a journey that can begin in the mirror or at the dentist's office. A small lesion in the mouth or throat can turn out to be oral cancer. Notoriously known to be unpredictable, these cancers are hard to treat, but some young doctors at the New York University's School of Dentistry are working to change that. Oral cancers take one American life every hour and it's because the unpredictability is a challenge. One person's cancer might be slow growing and another's wildly aggressive. It is impossible to tell which it is. The NYU researchers are trying to decipher their instruction codes, their genomics. If doctors know which way the cancer is going, it can be stopped. Halima Mohammed always carries water she constantly needs to drink. She is also a big consumer of fruits and vegetables. The reason: for nine years she has been fighting an oral cancer. "I can't have solid food so I get my nutrition from juices and most of these foods, especially the cabbage and the broccoli, are cancer fighting foods," she said. The cancer has had a huge impact on her life. She's already lost part of her tongue. "It is from my research one of the most painful type of cancers that you can have and I'm not diminishing cancer and the types of cancer, there is a constant pain, constant pain," said Mohammed. "It makes masticating difficult, swallowing difficult. You cannot have your favorite food anymore." But, Mohammed [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-23T16:16:45-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

US cancer survivors grows to nearly 12 million

Source: www.cancer.gov Author: staff The number of cancer survivors in the United States increased to 11.7 million in 2007, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. There were 3 million cancer survivors in 1971 and 9.8 million in 2001. The study, “Cancer Survivors in the United States, 2007,” is published today in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. A cancer survivor is defined as anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, from the time of diagnosis through the balance of his or her life. "It's good news that so many are surviving cancer and leading long, productive, and healthy lives," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Preventing cancer and detecting it early remain critically important as some cancers can be prevented or detected early enough to be effectively treated. Not smoking, getting regular physical activity, eating healthy foods, and limiting alcohol use can reduce the risk of many cancers." To determine the number of survivors, the authors analyzed the number of new cases and follow-up data from NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program between 1971 and 2007. Population data from the 2006 and 2007 United States Census were also included. The researchers estimated the number of persons ever diagnosed with cancer who were alive on Jan. 1, 2007 (except non-melanoma skin cancers, which are fairly common and rarely fatal). Study findings indicate: Of the 11.7 million people [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-03-17T04:27:56-07:00March, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Implant survival rate after oral cancer therapy: A review.

Source: HighWire, Stanford University The overall impression regarding the success of dental implants (DI) in patients having undergone oral cancer therapy remains unclear. The aim of the present review study was to assess the implant survival rate after oral cancer therapy. Databases were explored from 1986 up to and including September 2010 using the following keywords in various combinations: "cancer", "chemotherapy", "dental implant", "oral", "osseointegration", "radiotherapy", "surgery" and "treatment". The eligibility criteria were: (1) original research articles; (2) clinical studies; (3) reference list of pertinent original and review studies; (4) intervention: patients having undergone radio- and chemotherapy following oral cancer surgery; and (5) articles published only in English. Twenty-one clinical studies were included. Results from 16 studies reported that DI can osseointegrate and remain functionally stable in patients having undergone radiotherapy following oral cancer surgery; whereas three studies showed irradiation to have negative effects on the survival of DI. Two studies reported that DI can osseointegrate and remain functionally stable in patients having undergone chemotherapy. It is concluded that DI can osseointegrate and remain functionally stable in patients having undergone oral cancer treatment.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-17T17:40:03-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer answer? Researchers are working on a more individual approach to each tumour

Source: macleans.ca By: Kate Lanau This summer, Vancouver cancer researchers announced a medical first. Presented with an extremely rare case of tongue cancer—it was so unusual there were no standard treatments to use—they sequenced the DNA of the patient’s tumour, and discovered similarities with another cancer (renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer) for which there’s a known therapy. The patient received drugs tailored to these results, and the cancer stopped growing for several months. Steven Jones, a molecular biologist with the B.C. Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre and one of two lead researchers on the study, calls it a breakthrough. It isn’t standard in hospitals to genetically sequence a patient’s tumour, but “the goal would be, maybe in 10 years, this would be routine,” he says. Dr. Leif Ellisen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is working to bring tumour genotyping from the lab into the clinic. He and a team have designed a system that can screen relatively large numbers of patients for a variety of mutations across different cancer genes. These genetic mutations are a tumour’s “Achilles’ heel,” noted a recent editorial in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. “Every tumour has a flaw,” says Ellisen, who’ll be discussing his work as part of the Scienta Health Series in Toronto on Oct. 7, and his goal is to find it. It’s the mantra of a growing number of researchers, who tout personalized medicine—treatments tailored to each individual—as the future of cancer care. Traditionally, cancer treatment [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-08T10:18:00-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

NYU College of Dentistry receives $3.5 million gift to support oral cancer research, treatment, and training initiatives of Dr. Brian Schmidt

Source: www.nyu.edu/dental/news Author: staff The NYU College of Dentistry has received an anonymous gift in the amount of $3.5 million to support the oral cancer research, treatment, and training initiatives of Dr. Brian L. Schmidt, the newly appointed Director of the Bluestone Center for Clinical Research. These initiatives center on early detection, pain control, and improved reconstruction in the treatment of oral cancer patients. They include: • Developing an innovative oral cancer pain and neuroscience research program. • Identifying genetic and proteomic markers at the time of diagnosis to predict the progression of an oral cancer and, subsequently, to tailor treatment based upon that prediction. • Investigating saliva as a cancer predictor, which might make it possible to follow a patient with a pre-cancerous lesion simply by giving a saliva sample that would be analyzed in the laboratory for certain predictive markers. • Establishing a yearlong postdoctoral research fellowship for investigators who wish to develop expertise in the area of cancer pain by focusing on relevant questions that must be addressed in the laboratory. • Improving oral cancer survivors’ quality-of-life by expanding a program dedicated to facial construction following surgical resection. Dr. Schmidt and his colleague Dr. John Dolan, winner of the National Collegiate Inventors Competition Graduate Division Award, will research and develop a prototype for jaw replacement, fabricated in titanium, to be delivered at the time of oral cancer resection to replace the patient’s missing jaws and teeth. “We are thrilled by the generosity of this unrestricted [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-08-01T15:03:09-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|