Cambridge Scholars Publishing Oral Cancer: From Prevention to Intervention

This is a concise, informed and practical manual detailing the cause, prevention and interventional treatment of oral cancer – the deadliest of oral diseases. In the 21st century, oral cancer remains a lethal and deforming disease exhibiting rising incidence of epidemic proportions, particularly in younger patients, and is of global significance with over 300,000 new cases presenting each year. Despite advances in diagnosis and management, half of all patients die within five years. Even following successful initial treatment, long-term prognosis is compromised by the presentation of advanced tumours and development of widespread, multi-focal disease throughout the mouth and upper aero-digestive tract. The transformation of normal mouth lining into ‘potentially malignant’ and subsequently malignant tissue is a complex, multistep and multifactorial process in which accumulated genetic alterations, often instigated by overuse of tobacco and alcohol, disrupt the normal functioning of oral epithelial cells. Unfortunately, there is considerable public ignorance regarding oral cancer, and it is imperative for disease prevention to raise awareness of the causes and symptoms of the disease, especially in those populations most ‘at-risk’ of cancer. This book provides pragmatic strategies to improve both prevention and treatment intervention. Spanning nearly 40 years of clinical investigation, it reviews the biological basis of oral cancer, outlines primary, secondary and tertiary preventive strategies and describe a pragmatic treatment intervention protocol that specifically utilizes the ‘potentially malignant window’ to identify malignant disease at the earliest possible stage and intervention to ‘stop the oral cancer clock’ and halt the progression of this deadliest of oral diseases. About the Author Peter Thomson is Clinical Professor and Head of the Discipline of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Hong Kong. He qualified in both Dentistry and Medicine in the UK, gaining Fellowships in Dental Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Ireland and Glasgow, and a Fellowship in Surgery from Edinburgh. He completed MSc and PhD degrees in Epithelial Biology and Cancer Research at Manchester University, before moving to Newcastle in 1996 as Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. In 2009, he was appointed Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and, in 2011, King James IV Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. In 2014, he gained his Higher Doctorate (DDSc) in Oncology Research, and in 2016 an MD for work on interventional management of potentially malignant disorders. In 2016 he joined the University of Queensland’s School of Dentistry as Professor and Oral Health Alliance Director, before moving to Hong Kong in 2017. His principal clinical and research interests are in the prevention and early diagnosis of mouth cancer and the interventional management of potentially malignant disorders. He has published and presented over 250 research papers in oral oncology, and is an internationally recognised authority on carcinogenesis.