Posted on 06/03/2013 1:59:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Michael Douglas's announcement that his throat cancer was caused by human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease, has raised awareness about a men's health trend doctors have been alarmed about for years.
...
However, a link between oral sex and throat cancer is no surprise to experts.
"This is not a surprise by any stretch," Dr. Eric Genden, professor and chair of otolaryngology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, told CBSNews.com. "There's an epidemic of HPV-related throat cancers."
Throat cancer, also known as oropharyngeal cancer, refers to tumors that occur in the tonsils, base of the tongue and upper throat. Smoking and alcohol use have been associated risk factors, but in recent years throat cancers related to the sexually transmitted virus human papillomavirus (HPV) have been on the rise.
HPV is an STD transmitted by oral and genital sex.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Well, IIRC who he was/is(?) married to I can see why he took the risk...
The connection is real and known for a long time.
Doesn’t have to be homosexual contact. Hetero-oral is the same risk.
My brother ran a wound care clinic and many of his patients were young men and women who had to get bariatric treatment prior to simple dental work, because their immune systems were degraded as a result of their cancer treatment.
Not nice.
I understand.
Michaels point is that he is paying for being one of Hollywood ‘s most sexually active and wonderful lover to the many women he slept with.
He is trying to maintain his machoness.
[Woohoo! In before the "no thanks!"]
Unless your brother had a lot of overweight patients, I think you meant "prophylactic."
The doc said get that looked after lickity split.
Badge of honor? It could be he has so much oral sex with his wife due to his sexual deficiencies
All the propaganda about the advantages of sexual freedom are simply lies. Sexual excess only brings unhappiness. It is unhealthy both physically and spiritually.
Wow. The thread has been allowed to survive more than a half hour...longer than any of the previous ones, I believe.
Correct. And it is rampant with no symptoms. A PAP will pick it up in women (and it's said on your next PAP it can be gone) and in men it's undetectable.
No, he means “hyperbaric,” as in oxygen.
OK, I’ve heard of hyperbaric treatment for wounds, but before going to a dentist? How does that work? OTOH, it’s common for immunocompromised patients to take prophylactic antibiotics before going to the dentist.
Makes Rick right.
It’s only a risk for people that aren’t promiscuous or have partners who were.
A PAP test looks for dysplastic (disorganized) cells as well as cancerous, the dysplasia being a possible fore-runner to cancer. If the immune system clears out the virus, the cells can return to a normal state. Non-viral infection can also cause the dysplasia - which is why a gynecologist should test thoroughly for other infection before doing a cone biopsy of the cervix, which in turn can lead to incompetent cervix and pregnancy loss.
All that said, a PAP test for the throat certainly should be possible - both the throat and the cervix being covered with squamous epithelium.
And Douglas is supposed to have had a walnut-sized lump in his tongue - how do miss that? His poor wife, she’s going to have to be swabbed above and below for a while.
Final speculation: would oral HPV infections and cancers acquired from men tend to occur further back in the mouth and throat than those acquired from women?
You say that like it might be a bad thing...
“Wow. The thread has been allowed to survive more than a half hour...”
Yes. Another one about this news item was pulled in a couple of minutes. It’s about sex, see.
Voted most likely to dock at any port in a storm.
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