Summary Radiotherapy is a treatment modality largely used for head and neck malignancies. However, high doses of radiation in large areas, including the oral cavity, maxilla, mandible and salivary glands may result in several undesired reactions. Mucositis, candidosis, disgeusia, radiation caries, osteoradionecrosis, soft tissue necrosis and xerostomia are some of radiotherapy's complications. Aim The aim of this study is to briefly review the side effects that may be seen in the oral cavity during or after radiotherapy treatment in the head and neck region. Basic method used Review of relevant literature. Study design Literature review. Results Radiotherapy is still associated with several side effects, significantly affecting patients’ quality of life. Conclusions A multidisciplinary treatment, including physicians, dentists, speech therapits, nutritionists, and psychologists, is the best alternative to minimize, or even prevent such reactions.

Oral complications of radiotherapy in the head and neck

A retrospective follow-up study among chromium- and nickel-exposed welders, which took into consideration welding procedures, duration of exposure, and smoking habits, yielded an increased cancer risk in a comparison with an internal reference group of turners, milling cutters, and drillers, as well as in a comparison with the general population of the Federal Republic of Germany. Due to the cohort size (1 224 welders, 1 694 turners) and the fact that the observation period is still too short, confirmed statements as to the target cancer sites cannot yet be made. However, it emerges that welding with coated electrodes shows a higher cancer risk as compared to the other welding processes observed. This finding may be explained by the fact that the share of hexavalent chromium compounds in the welding fumes is greater with coated electrodes than with other processes so that a follow-up study observing the health risks of chromium and nickel fumes separately would be warranted. For the confirmation of a more favorable outcome with gas-shielded welding, a larger investigation group or a longer observation period would be required.

Cancer risk of arc welders exposed to fumes containing chromium and nickel.

The c-myc oncogene acts as a pluripotent modulator of transcription during normal cell growth and proliferation. Deregulated c-myc activity in cancer can lead to excessive activation of its downstream pathways, and may also stimulate changes in gene expression and cellular signaling that are not observed under non-pathological conditions. Under certain conditions, aberrant c-myc activity is associated with the appearance of DNA damage-associated markers and karyotypic abnormalities. In this chapter, we discuss mechanisms by which c-myc may be directly or indirectly associated with the induction of genomic instability. The degree to which c-myc-induced genomic instability influences the initiation or progression of cancer is likely to depend on other factors, which are discussed herein.

c-Myc, genome instability, and tumorigenesis : The devil is in the details

The ongoing JANUS project was started in 1973. The serum bank comprises 424,938 serum samples consolidated from 293,692 donors. The specimens are stored at -25 degrees C. From 1 to 13 consecutive samples are available from each donor. Up to October 1993 about 14,000 of the donors had developed some form of cancer. Frozen serum samples collected from a few months to 19 years prior to clinical recognition of their disease are available for research purposes. The principle aim of the JANUS project is to search in the premorbid sera for chemical, biochemical, immunological or other changes that might be indicative of cancer development at early stages. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and two-dimensional protein electrophoresis have been used to evaluate the stability of the frozen sera. Some recent findings are: CA-125 may be elevated months prior to the diagnosis of ovarian cancer; serum thyroglobulin may be a preclinical tumor marker in subgroups of thyroid cancer; low levels of selenium in serum reflects increased risk of thyroid cancer; raised antibodies in serum against Epstein-Barr virus is a risk factor for development of Hodgkins disease; prostate-specific antigen may be elevated years prior to clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer; and linoleic acid in serum phospholipids is inversely related to breast cancer risk. The serum bank is, in principle, suitable for environmental studies, e.g., human exposure assessment. The steering committee of the JANUS project is open to suggestions for collaborative research on this topic.

Experiences of the Janus Serum Bank in Norway.

A radioterapia e uma forma terapeutica amplamente utilizada para o tratamento das neoplasias malignas da cabeca e pescoco. Porem, altas doses de radiacao em extensos campos que irao incluir a cavidade bucal, maxila, mandibula e glândulas salivares frequentemente resultam em diversas reacoes indesejadas. Dentre as complicacoes da radioterapia estao a mucosite, candidose, disgeusia, carie por radiacao, osteorradionecrose, necrose do tecido mole e xerostomia. OBJETIVO: O objetivo deste artigo e fazer uma breve revisao das reacoes adversas que podem ser detectadas durante o tratamento radioterapico em regiao de cabeca e pescoco. METODO: A literatura pertinente que trata do assunto foi revisada. FORMA DE ESTUDO: Revisao de literatura. RESULTADOS: A radioterapia ainda esta associada a diversas reacoes adversas, que afetam de forma significativa a qualidade de vida dos pacientes. CONCLUSOES: O tratamento multidisciplinar, incluindo a equipe medica, o cirurgiao-dentista, o fonoaudiologo, o nutricionista e o psicologo e a melhor alternativa para minimizar ou mesmo prevenir tais complicacoes.

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Complicações bucais da radioterapia em cabeça e pescoço

Directory of on-going research in cancer epidemiology. 1986.

Directory of On-Going Research in Cancer Epidemiology. 1985.

The ever increasing volume of research projects and the continuously growing costs of research make it imperative that overlap and reduplication of investigations be avoided as much as possible. In fast moving fields of science (e.g. molecular biology or virology), information about on-going research gets relatively rapidly out of date. In other fields (e.g. cancer epidemiology), however, it takes anywhere from 3 to 5 years to complete scientific studies. During this time, it frequently happens that very similar projects are initiated at different places, not knowing that work in the same field is already being carried out elsewhere. In order to facilitate the exchange of information on current projects, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg with the support of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the USA have set up a Clearing-House for On-Going Research in Cancer Epidemiology on which we want to report in the following.

Schlaefer K

Papers

Directory of on-going research in cancer epidemiology. 1986.

Directory of On-Going Research in Cancer Epidemiology. 1985.

Clearing-House for On-Going Research in Cancer Epidemiology

Directory of on-going research in cancer epidemiology. 1983.

Directory of on-going research in cancer epidemiology 1982.