Cancer Care

Men with chronic gum disease may have an increased risk of tongue cancer, regardless of whether they smoke, according to a recent article.

More than 7,300 Americans died from oral cancer in 2006, according to background information in the article. “Considerable evidence indicates that chronic infections and persistent inflammation are associated with increased cancer risk,” the authors write. “Although viral infections have been associated with carcinogenesis [the development of cancer], the evidence for a connection between bacterial infections and carcinogenesis is also convincing.” The gum disease periodontitis is an oral infection thought to be caused by bacteria, though recent evidence suggests the involvement of viruses as well.

Mine Tezal, D.D.S., Ph.D., and colleagues at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, compared 51 white men with tongue cancer to 54 white men without, all of whom were treated at the cancer institute between 1999 and 2005. Periodontitis was assessed in panoramic X-rays of the mouth by calculating the amount of bone loss in the tooth cavities (alveoli), an established measure of the disease’s history and progression.

“The mean [average] alveolar bone loss was significantly higher in cancer cases compared with controls (4.21 vs. 2.74 millimeters),” the authors write. “After adjusting for the effects of age, smoking status and the number of teeth, each millimeter of alveolar bone loss was significantly associated with a 5.23–fold increase in the risk of tongue cancer. Other oral variables (the number of dental decays, fillings, crowns and root canal treatments) were not significantly associated with the risk for tongue cancer.”

Periodontal viruses and bacteria could be toxic to surrounding cells and produce changes that lead directly to oral cancer, or could indirectly contribute to cancer through inflammation, the authors note. “We have presented preliminary data suggesting an independent association between history of periodontitis and the risk of tongue cancer. This association needs to be confirmed by larger studies that include other oral cancer sites, women and subjects of other races with a more comprehensive assessment of confounding,” including factors such as lifelong tobacco use, they write. “If this association is confirmed, it has a potential impact on understanding the etiology of oral cancer as well as on its prevention and control.”

source : www.dentalplans.com

Red wine drinkers, raise your glasses! Another study extolling the health benefits of red wine was recently released, saying a glass a day may help prevent prostate cancer.

Researchers from Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found men who drink four to seven glasses of red wine a week are only 52 percent as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who don’t drink red wine.

The report, published in the June 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, was based on a small study examining the risk of prostate cancer in 1,456 men aged between 40 and 64, including alcohol consumption.
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Commenting on a paper in the Annals of Oncology examining cancer specialists’ attitudes to breast cancer follow-up in the primary care setting Laura Trapani Breast Care Nurse at Breast Cancer Care, said:

“There is clearly a discrepancy between current NICE guidelines for follow up and what happens in practice, which is reflected in what we hear from people with breast cancer about their own follow-up appointments.

“We hope that the current updating of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment guidelines by NICE will help to create a solution that more closely reflects what patients require.
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When polio was crippling thousands of American youngsters, parents breathed a sigh a relief after a vaccine was developed in the 1950s. Would parents have neglected getting a polio vaccine for their children? Of course not. So why is it that nationwide, fewer women are now getting mammograms — the best proven tool against breast cancer?

A new report in the American Cancer Society journal Cancer shows that the overall rate at which women are undergoing regular mammograms dropped 4 percent between 2000 and 2005, causing some officials to fear that the trend might result in increased breast cancer mortality rates.
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New published data from a large pan-European survey indicate that the majority of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer taking post- surgical endocrine therapy are not involved in making key decisions about their treatment, nor are they given sufficient information to make informed treatment choices that could affect their long-term outcome.

Although 96% of the women surveyed said their health provider was their main source of information, only one-quarter reported being told their risk of breast cancer recurrence, less than half were made aware of treatment options, and nearly one-third did not receive information about possible side effects, according to the results published in The Breast (available online in April; print edition expected in volume 16, 2007). In addition, 2 out of 5 women (41%) reported they were not at all involved in the decision to start adjuvant endocrine therapy.
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A Newfoundland health authority announced the suspension of a radiologist under review for his handling of patients much earlier than it planned to because of “heightened sensitivity” over a separate case of botched breast cancer tests, the authority’s CEO said Wednesday.

The Eastern Health Authority has been reeling in recent days from two cases that, while unrelated, have called into question its willingness to release information to the public over questionable tests.
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