Adjuvant Treatment for Stage III Colon Cancer – Decreasing the Chances of Recurrence

Pam McAllister attended the 2010 GI Cancers Symposium in Orlando on a C3 scholarship.

Pam is one of the original colorectal cancer research advocates and has been involved with research advocacy activities for well over a decade. She serves on numerous research panels and has co-authored many articles including the 2008 American Cancer Society Screening Guidelines and the ASCO Clinical Opinion on Testing for KRAS Mutations.

Here is the first of three articles she has written for C3’s Research  and Treatment News about what she learned at the Orlando meeting.

Last year we learned that Avastin® (bevacizumab) was not effective in increasing disease free survival in stage III colon cancer except for a possible small transient benefit that disappeared soon after the drug was discontinued. Continue reading…

Posted by Pam McAllister on February 19th, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 4 Comments »
Tags: 2010 GI Cancers Symposium, recurrence, stage III

Colorectal Cancer Research Briefs: Patients want colonoscopy videos

Briefly

• Hormone replacement therapy reduces risk of colon cancer.
• Smoking before age 30 increases chances that colon cancer will recur.
• Low CEA levels improve both survival and disease-free survival for stage II colon cancer.
• Most patients want videos of their colonoscopies and are willing to pay for them. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on February 10th, 2010
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »
Tags: CEA, colonoscopy, hormone replacement therapy, recurrence, survival

Early Stage Patients Benefit from Regular Follow-Up

Patients with very early stage colon cancer benefit as much from regular followup testing after surgery as later stage patients do.

While overall patients with stage I or IIA colon cancer (early stage) have a lower risk of cancer returning than patients with stage IIB or III (later stage), careful surveillance after surgery is as effective in finding and treating cancer in both groups.

About one in three patients in both the early and late stage who had a recurrence detected during surveillance were able to have surgery with the goal of curing their cancer.   Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on September 21st, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »
Tags: CEA, recurrence, surveillance, survival

Diet, Exercise, and Obesity

Patients always ask what they can do. Well, there is a lot they can do to reduce the risk for tumor recurring after successful surgeries.

Recent studies have clearly shown that diet is directly associated with the risk of tumor recurrence. People who eat primarily a Western diet are significantly at higher risk than those patients whose diet has less red meat, processed sugar, desserts, and French fries. You can change your diet and reduce your risk of tumor recurrence. Continue reading…

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on January 23rd, 2009
Posted in: From the Desk of Dr. Lenz | 20 Comments »
Tags: diet, exercise, Preventing Colorectal Cancer, recurrence

Avoid Western Diet

The typical Western diet increases the risk of tumor recurrence for patients with colon cancer.

Patients who ate the most red and processed meats, refined grains, fats, and sugars were about three times as likely to die or have their cancers recur as patients who ate these foods the least. While there is no shortage of evidence linking the so-called Western diet to an increased risk for developing colon cancer, the study by the group at Harvard is among the first to examine the impact of such a diet on survival among patients treated for the disease. Continue reading…

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on January 16th, 2009
Posted in: From the Desk of Dr. Lenz | 1 Comment »
Tags: diet, Preventing Colorectal Cancer, recurrence