Check out yesterday's Wall Street Journal! The "Personal Journal" section has a good article about early cancer detection, and our own Brian Hill is quoted extensively regarding oral cancer.

Here are his remarks, since the WSJ isn't very accessible via Internet. (Hope I'm not violating too many copyright laws by doing this!) But do try to get your hands on a copy - there is a lot of good information on many kinds of cancers.

Barb


Patient Awareness
Brian Hill, founder and executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation, has pressed to make patients more aware of the symptoms of oral cancer and to urge dentists who spot visible lesions to refer partients for further tests.

He emphasizes that patients with sores or lesions that appear benign but don't heal or resolve themselves within 14 days should be sent for further testing.

Mr. Hill wasn't diagnosed with oral cencer until he felt a hard lump on his neck and went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. That doctor looked in his mouth and saw a red patch on his tonsil the size of a quarter. Thinking it was an infection, he prescribed antibiotics. But when the lump didn't change after a week on the medicine, Mr. Hill was referred for a biopsy, which confirmed that it was advanced oral cancer.

Lost Time
Mr. Hill says the doctor estimated the lesion had been growing for maybe 18 months. In that period he had had a variety of dental procedures done, but no one said anything, and he was unaware of it himself.

If the cancer had been caught earlier before it spread to his neck, treatment might have been simpler. As it turned out he needed radical surgery to remove a portion of his neck.

"So many people were looking in my mouth," says Mr. Hill. "But no one thought it could be cancer."

Thanks for sharing Barb!!

Way to go Brian, Getting alot of exposure through
that paper. Nice to see some info that will do nothing but help early detection.

Kudo's, Brian

This article is now available in the "Oral Cancer in the News" section of the web site. - Sheldon