BENGALURU: With an aim to improve prevention, early detection and treatment of oral cancer, an Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) Atlas Project was launched in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Dr Praveen Birur is the principal investigator for the study, titled ‘Oral Potentially Malignant Lesion Atlas Project: Validating the Efficacy of a Novel, Point-of-Care Diagnostics and Developing an Integrated Multidimensional, Prognostic Nomogram’, which will lead to creating a multi-dimensional data-centric platform for oral cancer incidence.
The centrally-funded OPMD Atlas Project aims to evaluate and accurately deploy point-of-care (PoC) diagnosis systems in the national healthcare system as OPMD are the precursors of over 80 per cent of oral cancers, Dr Birur added. This platform will not only provide insights into better oral cancer diagnosis and management, but also lead to the development of pragmatic and reliable approaches for the diagnosis
and surveillance of patients with OPMD.
Dr GK Rath, former head, National Cancer Institute, and professor at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said, “Oral Cancer is the 13th most common cancer worldwide. India has an estimated 1.35 lakh annual incidence of lip and oral cavity cancer, with a mortality rate of 75,290.”
The project was launched on World Neck and Cancer Day celebrated on July 27 by Biocon Foundation, the CSR arm of the Biocon Group. In a press conference on Thursday, updated India-specific guidelines to help oncologists improve treatment outcomes of head and neck cancer patients by following evidence-based clinical practice was also released.