Posts tagged: Leukemia – Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Salivary Gland cancer kills Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys)
Cancer of the salivary gland is quite rare, The statistic given by NCI is 2.5 to 3 new cases out of 100,000 population, or about 1,000 new cases per year in the US – according to the National Cancer Institute. Cancer only represents 3 to 5 percent of total head and neck cancers.

Cancer begins in the salivary glands in the head, which are located in the mouth, throat, and neck. The most common place for cancer to start is in the parotid gland — near the front part of the ear.

Adam “MCA” Yauch, a member of the iconic Beastie Boys, has passed away after being diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland, according to news reports.

Yauch, 47, was treated for cancer in 2009, and in 2011, there were false reports that he had beaten it. But he actually was never cured of the disease.

Not all salivary gland tumors are cancerous, according to the National Institutes of Health. When the tumor is benign, a doctor may choose to just remove the salivary gland. However, other treatments like radiation therapy and chemotherapy are needed if the tumor is malignant (surgery to remove the cancerous tumor is also an option), according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Salivary gland cancer is most common amongst people in their 60s and 70s, according to the National Cancer Institute. Risk factors include being exposed to radiation (like that which is used to treat other cancers in the head or neck), and exposure to substances used in asbestos mining, plumbing, and rubber manufacturing signs of salivary gland cancer include:

having a typically painless lump in the mouth
or near the ear, jaw, lip, or cheek,
ear fluid drainage,
a numb or weak sensation in the face,
problems with swallowing,
and facial pain – according to the National Cancer Institute. Tests to diagnose cancer include screenings like MRI, CT or PET scans, an ultrasound exam, and endoscopy.

The Cleveland Clinic reported that a number of factors can influence how deadly salivary gland cancer will be, including how old the patient is and how healthy he or she is; what kinds of cancer cells the tumor is comprised of; which salivary gland the cancer is in; and the size of the cancer tumor.

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Salivary Cancer-general information

The salivary glands make saliva (spit). This keeps your mouth moist and helps food slide down the gullet into the stomach. The largest salivary glands are the:

• sublingual glands, which are found underneath the tongue
• parotid glands, which are found at the sides of the mouth just in front of the ears
• submandibular glands, which are found under the jawbone.

There are also many more tiny glands in the lining of the mouth and throat. These don’t have individual names but are known as the minor salivary glands and cancers affecting the salivary glands are rare, with approximately 550 new cases in the UK each year. They can occur at any age but are more common in people over 50. There are different types of salivary gland cancer, depending on the type of cell that has become cancerous.

Like many other forms of cancer, the exact causes of salivary gland cancer are unknown. Non-cancerous tumors of the salivary glands are a lot more common than cancerous tumors apparently!

Tumours affecting the salivary glands are not infectious and cannot be passed on to other people. They are not caused by an inherited faulty gene, so the relatives of someone with salivary gland cancer won’t be queuing up for a bout of salivary cancer!

Things to look out for are swelling on the side of the face, just in front of the ears, or under the jawbone and some people suffer some numbness and drooping of one side of the face (facial palsy)-a bit like having a stroke.

These symptoms may occur with different conditions; ie, other than cancer, and most people with these symptoms won’t have a salivary gland cancer-very few do. However, like most cancers, salivary gland cancers are best treated when diagnosed at an early stage. You should tell your GP about these symptoms if they do not improve over a few days.

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The area of the mouth (oral cavity) includes the:

• lips
• front two-thirds of the tongue
• upper and lower gums
• inside lining of the cheeks and lips
• the floor of the mouth, under the tongue
• the roof of the mouth (the hard palate)
• the area behind the wisdom teeth.

Mouth cancers are the most common cancers which affect the head and neck area. They can begin in any of the parts of the mouth mentioned above.

Around 1,400 people are diagnosed with cancer of the tongue each year in the UK and 1,500 are diagnosed with cancers affecting other parts of the mouth. Cancer of the lip is uncommon, with fewer than 300 people diagnosed with it every year.

Mouth cancer is more common in people over 50 and it usually affects more men than women. Most mouth cancers develop from cells that line the mouth or cover the tongue and are called squamous cell cancers.

The main causes of mouth cancers are life’s general pleasures of smoking and drinking heavily and the risk is greater if you do both, but always remember that 80% of all lung cancers occur in NONsmokers! Other causes include chewing tobacco or chewing betel or paan, which is a cultural tradition in some Asian communities.

There are other things that may increase the risk of getting mouth cancer, such as eating a poor diet and not cleaning your teeth, or seeing a dentist regularly enough. Having a weakened immune system or a virus called the human papilloma virus (HPV) (63%) are also possible risk factors. Being exposed to sunlight over a long period of time is a risk factor for cancer of the lip.

Mouth cancer, like other cancers, isn’t infectious and can’t be passed on to other people.

The two most common symptoms of mouth cancer are:

• a mouth ulcer  that refuses to heal
• discomfort or pain in the mouth that doesn’t go away.

Not everyone has pain or an ulcer. Other symptoms include:

• a white (leukoplakia) or red (erythroplakia) patch in the mouth or throat that doesn’t go away
• a lump or thickening on the lip, or in the mouth or throat
• difficulty or pain with chewing, swallowing, or speaking
• bleeding or numbness in the mouth
• loose teeth for no obvious reason
• a lump in the neck
• a lot of weight loss over a short time
• bad breath (halitosis).

These symptoms are common in conditions other than cancer. However, if you have any of these symptoms it is important to let your doctor or dentist know straight away. Mouth cancer can be treated more successfully when it’s diagnosed early.

Please Note: This is worldwide information I found, copied, and pasted on a site named uptodate.com.

Worldwide, head and neck cancer account for more than 550,000 cases and 380,000 deaths annually.

In the United States, head and neck cancer accounts for 3 percent of malignancies, with approximately 63,000 Americans developing head and neck cancer annually and 13,000 dying from the disease.

In Europe, there were approximately 250,000 cases (estimated 4 percent of the cancer incidence) and 63,500 deaths in 2012.

Males are affected significantly more than females with a ratio ranging from 2:1 to 4:1. The incidence rate in males exceeds 20 per 100,000 in regions of France, Hong Kong, the Indian subcontinent, central and eastern Europe, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and among African Americans in the United States.

Mouth and tongue cancers are more common in the Indian subcontinent; nasopharyngeal cancer is more common in Hong Kong, and pharyngeal and/or laryngeal cancers are more common in other populations; these factors contribute disproportionately to the overall cancer burden in these Asian countries.

The incidence of laryngeal cancer, but not oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer, is approximately 50 percent higher in African American men. The mortality associated with both laryngeal and oropharyngeal cancer is significantly higher in African American men, which may reflect the lower prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) positivity.

In 2016/2017, the “20-20 Voice” Cancer charity carried out an in-depth survey, worldwide regarding the start-to-finish process of self concerns, Dr visits, diagnosis & treatment: you may find the results very interesting in light of the above which has now become available!

Life & Death ( a must-read)

The man himself! R.I.P Carlos

Before you start reading this part of the information gathered here, please take a moment to read through the blog of a terminally ill cancer patient who sadly died last night (16th July 2015).

His name: Carlos Antunes

Location: Portugal

Carlos named his cancer “My Ninja” and as you will see, he fought the good fight with all his might ‘until the inevitable end, one might say! He was one brave man who knew what the outcome was to be, yet he never gave in until he had no more to give.

Loved & liked by many, I am told that even in his final days he was an absolute pleasure to be with and a kinder man who has seldom been met! May he rest in eternal peace and may a smidgeon of his bravery pass on to all of us when we need it!

Carlos Antunes R.I.P my friend (and thank you) https://an2nes.wordpress.com/

Bone Cancers (Sarcoma’s) Note here that the father of inventive estimation, so as to curry favor with anti-smoking lobbyists, Konrad Jamrozik, died aged 54 of a sarcoma, proving nothing except the fact that cancer can strike anyone, anywhere, anytime! His utterly ridiculous ‘guesstimations’ were the only ‘smoking-related deaths figures’ upon which the SCOTH Committee based their reasoning for introducing a smoking ban in this country.

He invented a figure of 11,000 and by God, that figure is still used now by such as CRUK even though they know that it is a figure conjured from thin air!  That ban has seen the death of 15,000 once viable businesses, and 200,000 jobs and has not proven to have saved one single life! Yet it has seen the creation of Chantix/Champix/Varenicline which has twisted people’s minds to such an extent that suicides have become commonplace! America has some 2,000 lawsuits stacked up against Pfizer-interesting that the first settlement came “Out of Court”.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cancer-of-the-bone/Pages/Introduction.aspx

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Check yourself out for breast cancer ladies!

http://www.nhs.uk/breast-cancer/pages/changes-breast-nipple.aspx

Never put off checking until tomorrow that which you easily check today!

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Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Now, this is a bit of a weird one, though no less devastating for those who suffer from this form of cancer.

This type of cancer is rare in the West but is much more common in the Far East.

It can occur at any age but is more likely to be found in people aged 50-60. It affects more men than women.

There are different types of nasopharyngeal cancer. They are named after the specific type of cell within the nasopharynx that has become cancerous.

Most nasopharyngeal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. They develop in the cells that line the nasopharynx. The more common types, which are all treated in a similar way, are:

• keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (type 1)
• non-keratinizing carcinoma: differentiated (type 2) and undifferentiated (type 3)
• basaloid squamous carcinoma.

There are other types of cancer that can develop in the nasopharynx, such as melanoma, lymphoma, and sarcoma. These are much rarer and are treated in different ways.

Click here to learn more about (naso) ‘Nose Cancers’

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Check this out out for detailed information regarding

Oesophageal Cancers

There are two main types of cancer of the esophagus: squamous carcinoma, which is more common at the upper end of the gullet, and adenocarcinoma, which is more common at the lower end, particularly around the junction between the gullet and the stomach.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/oesophaguscancer.htm

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Now we have some great news on the fight against cancer battlefront. You may not believe this but researchers have tried fighting germs/bad cells with different types of germs/bad cells. This video spells it all out for you-I think you will need to watch it twice to grasp the enormity of what is being achieved here!

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And on a sadder note, we need to point out that skin cancers can come in many forms, but few so embarrassing as facial skin cancers! Check out some of these sites so as to know what to look for-if, unfortunately, you have to:

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 http://www.medicinenet.com/skin_cancer/article.htm

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 http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/skin-cancer/about/skin-cancer-symptoms

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 http://www.bmihealthcare.co.uk/treatment/treatmentsdetail?p_name=Facial%20skin%20cancer%20removal&p_treatment_id=432

(look for the A-Z of treatments)

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http://www.londonentsurgeons.com/index.php/head-neck/facial-skin-cancers

(an excellent site for information & contact)

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Post op Tastebuds etc

Now we all know, or very quickly find out, that once the laryngectomy operation is over and recovery begins we have to eat soft foods for a while in order to start building our strength up again. But what of the taste of these foods? Where has it gone?

For many of us, the sad truth is that we think we can still taste the culinary delights presented but in actual fact we can’t – we only think we can. However, as time passes we do actually claw back a percentage of our ‘taste bud excellence‘. Here is a story to give us all hope as Andrew Hedley found that he was able to start tasting the wines he created. Read this article and be aware of the power we all have within!

The winemaker who had to relearn how to taste and smell