TORONTO, Canada--The 91st annual meeting of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons will welcome exhibitors Oct. 15-17, 2009, here at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
On hand will be the Trimira LLC Identafi 3000 ultra oral cancer detection device, an accurate screening tool for revealing signs of oral cancer and pre-cancer. Demonstrations of the device are available by appointment with Trimira Vice President Jerry S. Trzeciak, who will be attending the event.
Trimira's booth, No. 2228, will be located on the North Exhibit Level 300 (Halls A, B, and C).
Trzeciak noted that Identafi 3000 ultra is a next-generation imaging tool.
"It changes the diagnostic landscape," he said. "It's expressly designed for oral surgeons, dentists, periodontists, otolaryngologists, and primary-care physicians."
Identafi 3000 ultra, which was developed in collaboration with research scientists at British Columbia Cancer Research Center, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Rice University, is now available through Canadian and U.S. distributors and dealers.
Identafi 3000 ultra employs a new three-wavelength, or multispectral, optical auto-fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy developed more than 15 years at a cost of $30 million and patented by Trimira.
Oral cancer kills one person, every hour, every day, Trzeciak observed.
"Oral cancer is typically detected by a doctor, not a dentist, by which time it is usually a late-stage diagnosis," he said.
"In fact, 40% of those diagnosed with oral cancer will be dead in five years and 78% diagnosed with Stage IV, late-stage cancer will be dead in five years. Early detection of oral cancer would improve the survival rate to 80 to 90%."
Trzeciak noted that fewer than 15% of those who visit a dentist get screened regularly; rarely is the best available technology used.
"When you look at the five-year mortality rate for oral cancer, it's scary," Trzeciak said. "Oral cancer is more deadly than the more familiar cancers: breast, cervical, and prostate, and also more deadly than liver, kidney, thyroid, or colon cancers."
He noted that oral cancer is growing at double-digit rates, despite declines in alcohol and tobacco use. This is due to HPV-16 and -18 spread through forms of sex, but particularly oral sex.
For that reason, oral cancer is increasingly showing up in the young adult population. The fastest-growing group is females in their forties.
HPV oral cancer lesions occur mainly in the back of the throat, base of the tongue, and tonsillar pillars. Hence the need for a device that reliably, inexpensively, and quickly pinpoints oral cancer and pre-cancer that is not visible to the naked eye.
"It's clear that traditional techniques of visual or tactile examination are inadequate," Trzeciak said.
"What's also clear is that a new device delivering a new standard of care was needed. That device needed to incorporate the latest detection technology, be affordable, portable, cordless, easy to use, and accurate. That device needed to slash false positives and negatives. That device is Trimira's Identafi 3000 ultra."
Identafi 3000 ultra enables the user to detect biochemical and morphological changes in cells of the mouth, throat, tongue, and tonsils, and get real-time results.
Identafi 3000 ultra is an advance in the visualization of mucosal abnormalities, including oral cancer or premalignant dysplasia. The technology is diagnostic in screening for oral cancers but also will be applied to diagnose cervical, skin, bladder, and gastrointestinal cancers.
Unlike other methods, Identafi 3000 ultra empowers health professionals to pinpoint biochemical and morphological changes in cells.
For more information, go to Trimira.
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