Dear Oral Cancer & Diagnostics Insider,
With the alarming rise in the rate of oral cancer, a new, noninvasive cytology test for the disease offers an option that's cheaper than biopsies and less frightening for patients.
In this latest Insider Exclusive, we talked with the developers of the ClearPrep OC test, which is aimed at "watch and wait" lesions and uses a cyto-brush sampling method to measure changes in the nuclear DNA content of oral epithelial cells. Read more.
In other Oral Cancer & Diagnostics Community news, studies have shown that heavy consumption of alcohol is a contributing factor in developing oral cancer. But a new study in the American Journal of Public Health found that even moderate drinking increases such risks. Read about the surprising findings here.
In a related story, is there a demonstrated link between oral leukoplakia and tobacco and alcohol consumption? Do all oral leukoplakias lead to oral squamous cell carcinoma? Is it possible to detect premalignant oral leukoplakia? These are some of the questions a recent literature review in Oral Diseases attempted to answer.
Meanwhile, a growing number of facilities are working to improve care for head and neck cancer patients through collaborative programs that bring together a spectrum of oncology specialists. Click here to read how the University of Louisville's Brown Cancer Center is using novel techniques to help decrease the debilitating side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
And while cancer survival rates are improving, common cancer therapies such as chemoradiation often cause acute oral complications and toxicities that are largely unavoidable. Click here to see how increased awareness and aggressive management of oral toxicities can ensure the long-term oral health and well-being of cancer patients.
In other clinical research news, marijuana has long been used to help cancer patients better tolerate the side effects of chemotherapy. Now researchers at the New York University College of Dentistry say a once popular hallucinogenic drug can help the psychological needs of cancer patients. Read more.
And a study of older patients with advanced head and neck cancers found that where they were treated significantly influenced their survival, according to a recent report in the journal Cancer.
Finally, computed tomography texture analysis of primary tumors may be a potential imaging biomarker in localized esophageal cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Click here to read about the research, which was presented last month at the Cancer Imaging and Radiation Therapy symposium.
