News: Head and Neck Cancer

Customized oral stents can minimize harm from radiation therapy for some head and neck cancer patients.

The free annual screening will be Friday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the John S. Odess Clinic for Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center at 7209 Medical Center East, South Tower. No appointment is necessary.

Physicians and researchers from across the country came to the Vanderbilt Symposium on HPV Infections and Associated Cancers on March 1 to discuss screening and prevention strategies for the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will host an educational symposium on human papillomavirus (HPV) and associated cancers on Friday, March 1.

Researchers in the schools of engineering and medicine are exploring the use of Raman spectroscopy for early detection of HPV-related cancers of the throat in order to reduce the need for biopsies and to offer less intensive therapies.

Sarah Rohde, MD, specializes in treating cancers in the head, neck and thyroid. A large part of her practice is microvascular free flap reconstruction, or using other parts of the body to reconstruct tissue removed through surgery.

Ronald Alvarez, MD, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has formed the HPV-Associated Cancer Consortium Vanderbilt (HPVACTIVE) program to raise awareness and provide community-wide education about HPV-associated cancers.

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) Assistant Professor Bethany Rhoten, Ph.D., MSN, R.N., has been awarded a $30,000 grant through a Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center-administered American Cancer Society pilot program to investigate the need for a self-report tool to assess sexuality in head and neck cancer patients.

Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are intracellular messengers produced in bacteria that can bind to and activate an immune-mediated signaling cascade called STING in mammalian cells. CDNs have shown antitumor activity in melanoma and breast tumors. Reporting this month in the journal Head & Neck, Young J. Kim, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University, […]

Under the microscope, they sparkle like emeralds, these molecules that may hold a key to understanding — and stopping — cancerous growth. The molecules are protein receptors that bind epidermal growth factor (EGF). Overexpression of the EGF receptor has been linked to multiple types of cancer. Drugs that block the receptor have become routine treatment […]