Posted: Oct 9, 2012 3:00 PM by Robert Preidt TUESDAY, Oct. 9
(HealthDay News) -- A gene test that can identify people at risk
for mouth cancer has been developed by British researchers. The
test detects precancerous cells in patients with benign-looking
mouth lesions and could lead to earlier treatment for at-risk
patients and improve their chances of survival, according to the
team at Queen Mary, University of London. They used the
quantitative Malignancy Index Diagnostic System test -- which
measures the level of 16 genes -- on more than 350 head and neck
tissue specimens from nearly 300 patients and found that it had
a cancer detection rate between 91 percent and 94 percent. The
study was published Oct. 4 in the International Journal of
Cancer. Mouth cancer affects more than half a million people
worldwide each year, and that number is expected to rise above 1
million by 2030, according to World Health Organization figures.
Most cases of mouth cancer are caused by either smoking or
chewing tobacco, or drin