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>>Narrator: Patients who are diagnosed with lesions in their mouths are usually given
only a couple of options. They can do nothing, have their dentist keep a close eye on the
lesions and hope they’re not cancerous - or they can have them cut out and biopsied to
know for sure. Neither option is ideal, which is why Eva Sue Reed chose a third option.
She signed up to help test a new gel designed to heal the lesions - although that, too,
had its limitations. >>Eva Sue Reed: I put it on my gums and after just a short time,
you know, maybe 5 minutes or so, it started to kind of dissolve in my mouth and you didn’t
even see it after just a few minutes. >>Narrator: So, researchers at Ohio State University’s
Comprehensive Cancer Center have helped to develop this - a tiny, saliva-proof patch.
>>Peter Larsen: The idea behind a patch would be that it would hold in place, much like
a nicotine patch or some type of other drug-delivery patch that people might be familiar with.
>>Narrator: on that patch is a potent medicine made with high levels of man-made vitamin
A. Doctors think it could be very effective in treating mouth lesions, although tests
in pill form raised concerns. >>Susan Mallery: At high levels, it’s toxic.
Patients develop trouble with sores in their mouth, with changes in liver profile, dry
skin. >>Narrator: Which is where the patch comes in. In lab tests it delivered medicine
directly into the lesions with up to 97-percent efficiency* - But didn’t affect the rest
of the body.
>>Susan Mallery: Actually, we’d like to see a minimal amount of compound released
into the blood stream, and, in fact, that was the case.
>>Narrator: Which could someday mean a new option for patients like Eva Sue - one that
treats her lesions, and spares her the painful process of repeated biopsies. At Ohio State
University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, this is Clark Powell reporting.