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Oral cancer screenings to reduce the mortality rates

by Medindia Content Team on Jun 6 2005 11:31 AM

Visual screening of the mouth by trained health workers can help in early detection of oral cancer and help in reducing the oral cancer mortality rate.

A research done by scientists from Kerala, India, have found out that it is possible to visually screen people for oral cancer in order to provide early medical intervention to save lives of thousands of oral cancer patients.

Oral cancer is the growth of malignant tissues or cells in the oral cavity. This can happen as a lesion on he lips, tongue or on he walls of moth. Heavy use of tobacco and alcohol increases the risk of oral cancer in people.

The research by the Indian scientists involved visually screening healthy people, of 35 years or older, for oral cancer at the beginning of the study and at intervals of three years. The screen-positive people were then referred to doctors for clinical examination, biopsy and treatment.

Of the 97517 eligible participants of the study, 91% were screened at least once, 55% twice, and 30% were screened three times. The people who were found positive on the screenings, 63% of them had undergone the medical treatment advised to them. The mortality rate from the screened group was 37.5% when compared to the control group that had the mortality rate of 55%.


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