 |
|
Open Your Mouth and Say, 'AhhhOral Cancer Screening and Family Physicians
John G. Spangler, MD, MPH
Arch Fam Med. 1995;4(7):585-586.
|
|
| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
|
|
|
APPROXIMATELY 30 000 people were diagnosed as having oral cancer in 1994, making it a more prevalent condition than leukemia or cancers of the cervix, stomach, or thyroid.1 Moreover, morbidity and mortality associated with this cancer are quite high. Each year, more people die of oral cancer than cervical cancer, 40% or fewer with this condition will live beyond 5 years, and costs for treatment and rehabilitation of patients with oral cancer exceed half a billion dollars annually.2 Costs occur not only in economic terms. Any physician who has cared for patients with oral cancer appreciates the social and psychological impact of disfiguring oral cancer surgery. Early detection and treatment should reduce mortality from this lethal condition but unfortunately patients often present at advanced stages.3 In the face of such a dramatic disease, what should our roles as family physicians be in screening and prevention of oral
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC
|
