Current Projects

The role of selective neck dissection in early oral cancer treatment (SEND) trial

Saving Faces researchers are working on a Cancer Research UK funded study which is the first large scale surgical clinical trial in the United Kingdom for patients with oral cancer. The trial will involve over 600 patients nationwide and aims to answer important questions in the treatment of patients with oral cancer that will benefit both patients and the NHS.

PhD study on the Psychological Factors in Head and Neck and Gastrointestinal Cancer

Saving Faces is supporting a PhD study that aims to investigate different psychological and physiological measures that might predict which patients will develop depression after a diagnosis of cancer. The study will investigate factors that can be used to predict those patients who will develop depression so as to proactively detect and treat these patients and therefore prevent the depression impacting on their cancer treatment.

Microcytoscopy using Contact Video Microscopy

The Cyscope is a new technology that may well enable early detection of cancer cells without the need for a biopsy. We are currently developing automated diagnostic tools requiring limited specialist intervention, primarily for the detection of oral cancers, using a well-defined subset of cell features, employing pattern recognition and image analysis. Further studies continue to refine the categorising of cells into five subsets, graded from normal to cancerous, using a database of over 8000 images collected so far.

"Binge-drinking" Prevention Study

Around 125,000 young people a year attend A&E with severe facial injuries, often associated with alcohol-related falls and assaults. Alcohol is the drug of choice for many teenagers and their drinking habits arouse considerable concern due to the prevalence of alcohol consumption and the amount drunk. Adolescents in the UK have one of the highest European levels of alcohol use, binge-drinking and getting drunk. Regular heavy alcohol consumption and binge drinking are associated with physical problems, antisocial behaviour, violence, accidents, suicide, accidental death, injuries and road traffic accidents. Saving Faces has been working with the Department of Health to inform young people of the consequences of binge drinking. Professor Iain Hutchison also featured on the ITV1 documentary "The Truth About Binge Drinking".

Smoking Prevention Study

Saving Faces’ promotion work in schools continues. The results of the 2004 survey, investigating the effectiveness of national curriculum tobacco education, have been accepted for publication by the highly rated journal Health Education Research. This study showed that the ‘shock tactic’ approach to smoking prevention has much student support and that mouth cancer could prove to be an excellent deterrent against smoking.