Posts tagged ColorectalCancer at The Cancer Blog

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Posts with tag ColorectalCancer

With tumors removed, liver can grow back cancer free

Posted Sep 9th 2007 1:17PM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer

Half of colorectal cancer cancers have already spread to the liver by the time of diagnosis. Many doctors tell patients that they are out of surgical options at that point and recommend chemotherapy.

However, doctors at Ohio State's James Cancer hospital disagree that surgery is never an option at that point. Doctors there, including Tanios Saab, say that if chemo or radiation can shrink the tumor, surgeons may be able to go surgically and get the rest out.

The liver is the only solid organ that can grow back once it is cut. Surgeons have found that they can remove as much as 80% of the liver and within a year, the liver will grow back.

Improving colorectal cancer screening by using community volunteers

Posted Aug 5th 2007 10:17AM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer

The Carolinas Cancer Education and Screening Projects (CARES) aims to improve colorectal cancer screening (CRC) among low-income women in subsidized housing in 11 cities in North and South Carolina, women who are traditionally underserved by cancer control efforts.

In a recent study published in Cancer, the CARES project conducted face-to-face interviews with women, focusing on CRC knowledge, beliefs, barriers to screening and screening behaviors.

At the beginning, only 49.3% of the participants who should have been screening per physician guidelines were screened for CRC. After the intervention, there was in increase in positive beliefs about CRC screening and intention to undergo screening, but the rate of screening did not increase significantly after the intervention.

The researchers suggests that such interventions may take more time.

NSAIDs reduce colorectal cancer risk, according to new study

Posted Jul 24th 2007 2:05PM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer

A new study provides more evidence that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. This study was of Medicare patients who had been taking NSAIDs such as aspirin for osteoarthritis and was conducted by a Massachusetts General Hospital team led by Elizabeth Lamont, MD, MS.

The study agrees with previous research which showed a relationship between NSAID use and the development of precancerous polyps.

Lamont states that it is "good news for people who take NSAIDs regularly for osteoarthritis, " but that since there are risks such as bleeding or kidney damage associated with NSAID use, NSAIDs should not be used solely in a effort to prevent cancer.

Lamont cautions that this was a "natural experiment" in which data from patients taking NSAIDs was compared to data from those who don't, but that the ideal to test this relationship would be a randomized clinical trial.

Folic acid and colorectal cancer link examined

Posted Jul 20th 2007 10:23AM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer

Since folic acid has been added to grains on a nationwide level in the 1990s, the number of infants born with neural tube defects has declined by 20 to 50 percent. However, at the same time, the rate at which new colorectal cancer cases were diagnosed has increased, according to Joel Mason MD and colleagues at Tufts University. Since folic acid fortification began, there has been an additional four to six cases of colorectal cancer for every 100,000 people.

Mason notes that the analysis suggests that the increase is not due to increased screening or chance.

"The body's response to folic acid appears to be complex," says Mason. "While fortification of the food supply is clearly beneficial for women of child-bearing age and their offspring, it is possible that it may, coincidentally, be linked to the increase in colorectal cancer rates. Our report is intended to create a foundation upon which to further explore that possibility."

Mason urges caution and debate as more and more countries are considering instituting folic acid fortification.

Cancer drugs too expensive? Can you get the government to pick up the tab?

Posted Jul 19th 2007 8:51PM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Drug, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Daily news

It's good news if you live in Alberta, like I do, or even if you don't, it's a step in the right direction on a larger scale: The cost of a very pricey colon cancer treatment will be footed by the government at an expense of $7M per year. The place I live in is notorious for putting healthcare on the backburner and making more money for already-wealthy oil executives on the front burner, so I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that at least some patients in this messed-up system get the treatment they deserve at the expense of the government. Sorry -- rant over.

The drug in question is called Oxaliplatin and it's been shown to be an extremely effective tool in fighting colorectal cancer. In the wake of announcements like this, not to mention eye-opening movies like Sicko, I hope North America is heading in the right direction -- and dying or gravely ill patients won't be denied access to the drugs that could save their lives.

Single-agent chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer is gentler and just as effective, says study

Posted Jul 19th 2007 3:49PM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Chemotherapy, Colon and Rectal Cancer

According to two new studies in The Lancet, for patients starting out treatment for advanced colorectal cancer, beginning chemotherapy with one drug is gentler and just as effective. Current clinical practice favors using combo therapy from the start.

In the first study from the University of Leeds, three groups of advanced colorectal cancer patients received three different regimens: the first group received only fluorouracil for as long as it controlled their disease, the second received fluorouracil followed by combo therapy (adding irinotecan or oxaliplatin), the third received combo therapy from the beginning.

Patients in the first group had the shortest survival times, while patients in the second and third groups had similar overall survival times.

In the second study from the University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherland, patients were randomly assigned to either sequential treatment with capecitabine, irinotecan and oxaliplatin; or combination treatment of capecitabine plus irinotecan followed by capecitabine plus oxaliplatin. Both groups of patients had similar overall survival rates.

Avastin and tracheo-esophageal fistulas

Posted Jun 27th 2007 12:59PM by Patricia Mayville-Cox
Filed under: Chemotherapy, Colon and Rectal Cancer

Avastin, which is used for advanced colorectal cancer, has been linked to tracheo-esophageal fistulas in a small number of Canadian patients, according to Health Canada officials. Tracheo-esophageal fistulas are abnormal connections between the esophagus and the trachea.

"A direct cause and effect between Avastin and these events has not been established, but cannot be ruled out," Health Canada said in its advisory. "Avastin should no longer be given to patients who develop a TE fistula."

Health Canada officials recommend that patients taking Avastin should contact their physicians if they develop any of the following: chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing or labored breathing, coughing or choking when eating or drinking, coughing up food or liquids, or wheezing sounds following every breath.

Although a direct cause and effect relationship has not been confirmed between Avastin and TE fistula, it is still something to be aware of if you or a loved one is using this treatment.

Vegetarians have a reduced risk of Colorectal Cancer

Posted May 28th 2007 10:30AM by Martha Edwards
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Diets, Nutrition, Cancer prevention foods

There are a number of benefits to a vegetarian diet and here's another one: Lifelong vegetarians have a reduced risk of developing colorectal cancer. The reason why is not made clear in the article but rather just that there's a link. So I wonder: What is it about a vegetarian diet that makes it healthier? Is it that vegetarians consumer more nutrients and antioxidants and less saturated fat? Does it have something to do with how non-meat food is digested? Is it because vegetarian diets are overall lower in calories and therefore less metabolizing means less harmful free agents in the body?

I don't think this one study is a reason to quit eating meat, and although I'm not a big meat eater myself, I think that it can be part of a healthy diet if consumed in moderation and balanced out with lots of fruits, veggies and whole grains. What do you think? To eat meat or not to eat meat?

Smokers and drinkers have higher colon cancer risk

Posted Mar 27th 2006 7:44PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Prevention

People who smoke cigarettes and drink alcoholic beverages tend to develop colon cancer earlier in life. Northwestern University researchers conducted a study of over 161,172 patients with colon cancer. They found that those who had smoked and drank developed cancer of the colon an average of 7.8 years earlier than those who never smoked or drank alcoholic beverages. While the recommended age to begin annual colon cancer screening is 50, for drinkers and smokers, who are considered to be at higher risk for developing colon cancer, the recommendation is screening start before the age of 50.

Give to colon cancer foundation get free laughing gas

Posted Mar 15th 2006 9:00AM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer, Prevention

In observance of National Colon Cancer Awareness Month, the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, EIF's NCCRA, is offering free laughing gas, an air-freshening product, if you contribute $20 dollars or more to help support the organization's colon cancer awareness and research programs.

According to philosophy, makers of laughing gas, they may create a bit of bathroom humor with the new laughing gas product, but the fundraising effort for colon cancer awareness, screening and research is definitely no laughing matter. In addition to the EIF's NCCRA free offer of laughing gas, philosophy is donating 100 percent of net profits of the sale of laughing gas to support EIF's NCCRA. "Give your bathroom the aroma of a great-smelling bakery, and every time you give a quick spray, remember you are also helping to help fight colon cancer."

In 2000, Katie Couric, Lilly Tartikoff and the Entertainment Industry Foundation established the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. Since that time, public awareness about colon cancer has led to a 20 percent increase in colonoscopies nationwide. University of Michigan researchers refer to this as the "Couric Effect."

New chemo treatment to liver for colorectal cancer

Posted Mar 3rd 2006 8:00AM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Chemotherapy, Colon and Rectal Cancer

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center researchers have found that colorectal cancer patients with cancer metastasized to the liver, lived longer and enjoyed a better quality of life, if they received chemotherapy directly to the liver through a pump in the abdomen, instead of standard intravenous chemotherapy. Researchers find the conclusions of this study hopeful for colorectal cancer patients, because statistically, 60 percent of the time, colorectal cancer will spread to the liver. During the study, it was noted that colorectal cancer patients who were treated with the hepatic arterial infusion therapy, HAI, did not suffer the usual chemotherapy side-effects that patients treated with standard chemotherapy suffer.

An increased risk of colorectal cancer for people with diabetes

Posted Jan 19th 2006 6:16PM by Jeri Kemple
Filed under: Colon and Rectal Cancer

Diabetes increases the chance of developing colorectal cancer by a impressive 50 percent.%uFFFDA new study is being conducted by Assistant Professor Koh Woon Puay (pictured) of the NUS Faculty of Medicine. She wants to assemble a homogeneous group because diet is such an important factor in this case, and it would be difficult to study diets across ethnic groups.

Since 1993 NUS researchers have been collecting and analyzing data from interviews and surveys. It is an ongoing study and will continue as long as possible into the future.



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