I
ssues and
P
eople
As the technology improves, livemicroscopyonapatient tobetter assess certainconditions
will havea significant impact.”
Listen to the full interviewwithDr. Edwards:
Oral CancerManagement
Therapieswill target cancerpathways:
“Therehavebeen tremendous advances in
radiotherapyandchemotherapydirected tocancer cells. In10years, it lookspromising that
we’ll beable to lookat thecancer, understand thepathwaysdriving it, andoffer thepatient
targeted therapiesdirected toparticular pathways incancer development.”
Biomarkerswill improveearlydetectionoforal cancer:
“Most oral abnormalities found
bydentistshavea relatively low likelihood formalignant transformationbut it’s important
to identifywhichpatientshavea lesionwithmalignant potential—thosewith thegenetic
mutations that increase the likelihoodof it transforming intoanaggressivecancer. I think
biomarkerswill allowus tomakegreat advances in that domain.”
Lab resultswillbe in real time:
“Wehave traditionally reliedonbiopsyandhistopathology
results todetermine if lesionshavemalignant potential. Andpatientswait about oneweek to
get the lab results. In the future, I think thisprocesswill be replacedby livebiopsyandoptical
techniques that can tell youwhat isgoingon in the tissuewithout cutting into it—wecan
get real-time results andprovidepatientswith the information theyneed.”
a
Listen to the full interviewwithDr. Kerr:
Dr.RossKerr
,
clinicalprofessor, oral and
maxillofacialpathology,
radiologyandmedicine,
NYUcollegeofdentistry
