To create a multidimensional data-centric platform for prevention, early detection, and treatment of oral cancers, Biocon Foundation has taken up a Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) Atlas Project, in coordination with four other healthcare institutes.
The project was announced at Biocon Foundation’s 4th edition of Oral Cancer Task Force (OCTF) conference, held on the outskirts of Bengaluru on July 27.
Titled ‘Oral Potentially Malignant Lesion Atlas Project: Validating the Efficacy of a Novel, Point-of-Care Diagnostics and Developing an Integrated Multidimensional, Prognostic Nomogram’, this five-year project will commence in the first week of August, said Praveen Birur, principal investigator of the project.
“The OPMD Atlas Project aims to evaluate and accurately deploy point-of-care (PoC) diagnosis systems in the national healthcare system to enable accurate screening, detection and prognosis of OPMD patients. This will be a key advance in the war against oral cancer as OPMDs are the precursors of over 80% of oral cancers,” he said.
Screening of patients
“We will screen over 20,000 patients for the project, of which 5,000 patients will be recruited for the study. The patient recruitment will begin in April, and we will follow-up with them every three months,” he said.
The research project, which is funded by a Central Government grant, will be carried out in collaboration with Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Foundation, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, KLE Society’s Institute of Dental Sciences, Bengaluru, the Department of Preventive Oncology, NCI-AIIMS – Jhajjar, and the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital, Varanasi. Patients will be screened at all these institutes, said Dr Birur.
“The project will leverage advances in data science and Artificial Intelligence to combine datasets, including clinical information, lesion image, cytology, pathology, genomics and proteomics, and result in a first-of-its-kind, multidimensional data-centric platform. 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,” he said.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder and managing trustee of Biocon Foundation, said the foundation’s intervention in the area of cancer started with oral cancer screening using technology that enabled early detection and prevention. “Today, the foundation has catalysed the coming together of four institutes of national eminence to roll out a first-of-its-kind research project funded by a Central Government grant. I believe this Atlas project will help in developing a cost-effective and sustainable national oral cancer control programme in India,” she said.
Consensus on guidelines
At the conference, the second edition of the India-specific Consensus Guidelines for the Management of Head and Neck Cancer (HNC), developed by the Oral Cancer Task Force (OCTF), were agreed upon to commemorate the World Head and Neck Cancer Day.
The updated India-specific guidelines, that will be released soon, will help oncologists improve treatment outcomes of HNC patients by following evidence-based clinical practice. The guidelines are being published in the Journal of Cancer Research Statistics and Treatment, Dr. Birur said.
The OCTF is an independent, multi-disciplinary task force comprising leading specialists. Under the aegis of OCTF, the first-ever Indian clinical practice guidelines on management of HNC were laid down, and published in the Indian Journal of Cancer in February 2020.
