Abstract
A14
Oral cancer survival rates have remarkably improved within the last 10 years. 1053 patients of OMF Surgery Clinics in Germany were treated in 1995 with success in 542 patients at the end of 2000. Another 1214 patients in a following study were treated in 2001 with success in 840 patients at the end of 2006. What is the cause for this improvement in oral cancer treatment outcome? >Initially, one might assume this improvement is due to advancements in cancer research and better treatment. Successful treatment is variable for patients presenting with early stage cancer versus late stage disease. The outcome for patients presenting with early onset cancer stage I UICC was similar in 2000 and in 2006. In both groups successful treatment was 94%. Success for patients presenting with later stages of oral cancer has slightly improved from 2000 to 2006, 48% to 52%. The increase of 4% for these late stage cancers is too small to explain the improved outcome for the entire group. >Improvement might be due to the increasing percentage of patients presenting early. There is a proportional increase in stage I patients in comparison with patients in later stages between 1995 and 2001 from 31% to 49%. This increase could indeed explain the overall improvement of outcome results. >Public health initiatives to stimulate people to see a doctor for early onset cancer, appears to be a very valuable tool of improving treatment outcome. But how can we explain the obvious development in public awareness of cancer and the changes of early treatment? And moreover how can we apply this in medical and dental practice and correctly direct our influence? >Further studies are needed to describe and evaluate the factors that have stimulated people to seek early medical and dental advice. This aspect of cancer research is what we call Cancer Politics, a cross task of life sciences, social sciences and humanities. The aim of Cancer Politics in 2010 is to see 75% of patients in early stages. This impact would increase the oral cancer survival rates to almost 75%.
Sixth AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research-- Dec 5-8, 2007; Philadelphia, PA