KUALA LUMPUR, 10th November 2021 – Faculty of Dentistry in Universiti Malaya, in collaboration with Cancer Research Malaysia, has launched a new service using a Web App for follow up of patients and for early detection of oral cancer. There is particular urgency around early detection of oral cancer in South and Southeast Asia, which [due to local risk habits of tobacco, areca nut, and alcohol] accounts for more than 60 percent of oral cancer globally.
Moreover, about 70 percent of oral cancer is diagnosed at advanced stage III and IV lowering the possibility of cure to less than 20 percent, while the diagnosis of oral cancer at an early stage can improve the cure rate to about 80 percent.
Oral cancer can often present as an ulcer that doesn’t heal or a loose tooth, and when patients have these symptoms, they sometimes seek advice in dental or general practitioner clinics. Unfortunately, these are often assumed to be innocent and that they will heal on their own. The lack of expertise to accurately diagnose oral cancer at its early stages leads to delays in diagnosis and sometimes, this delay can result in patients succumbing to their disease.
Because the oral lesions are visible by a mouth examination, studies have shown that training healthcare workers to distinguish suspicious lesions from benign ones can lead to a 30% improvement in survival. But patients need to be checked and managed regularly, something that many patients find difficult to to do, because they live far away from treatment centres or require help to get to the hospital, and this has been made worse by the pandemic.
Professor Dr. Cheong Sok Ching, lead developer of the MeMoSA® web App shared, “MeMoSA® allows the patient to easily document their oral lesions at home through a mobile phone camera and to send the images to their clinicians for consultation. Our study showed that the concordance between direct clinical examination and remote mobile phone detection was more than 90%, which means that signs of cancer can be identified remotely using photos taken by a smartphone. By facilitating a seamless and secure two-way communication between patients and their doctors, we have improved clinical follow up and enabled early detection of oral cancer.”
Associate Professor Dr. Siti Mazlipah Ismail, oral maxillofacial surgeon at the Universiti Malaya added, “During the pandemic, more than 60% of our patients missed or had their clinical appointments postponed. In a way, it forced us to adopt digital health technology faster and we are delighted that MeMoSA® was quickly available to enable continued care of patients.”
An anonymous patient shared, “The quality of care delivered by teleconsultation is better compared to clinical visits as I was able to highlight the lesion and discuss my concerns in private, which made me feel closer to my clinicians than I would at the clinic. A plus point is that it is efficient as it saves on travelling time.”
Toh Puan Dato’ Seri Hajjah Dr. Aishah Ong who launched the new digital health services said “I am delighted that Universiti Malaya and Cancer Research Malaysia have once again worked together to improve the outcome of oral cancer patients. Oral cancer is a disease that is more common in the Asian population and integrating digital health tools such as MeMoSA® can go a long way to improve the follow up and outcome for oral cancer patients. We hope that donors will continue to support our efforts to save lives particularly for Asians."
The development of MeMoSA® was made possible with the support of Yayasan Sime Darby, Yayasan PETRONAS, Vistage and partner companies, Berjaya Cares Foundation and the Medical Research Council Global Challenge Research Grant. The clinical concordance study was co-led by Professor Cheong Sok Ching (Head, Digital Health Research Unit, Cancer Research Malaysia), and Associate Professor Dr. Siti Mazlipah Ismail (Consultant, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Universiti Malaya).
For more information on the MeMoSA, check out www.cancerresearch.my or email memosa@cancerresearch.my. To support Cancer Research Malaysia, donations can be made to CRM at www.cancerresearch.my/donate.
