May, 2006

Cloture motion passes allowing Senate to proceed to S. 1955

Today the Senate passed a cloture motion which allows it to proceed to S. 1955 (Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2005). The roll call vote was 96 yeas, two nays, and two not voting.

Posted by Dusty Weaver on May 9th, 2006
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News | No Comments »

FDA approves OsmoPrep for colonoscopy preparation

On March 17, 2006 the FDA approved OsmoPrep™, a tablet form of sodium phosphate for colonoscopy preparation. OsmoPrep™ is manufactured by Salix Pharmaceuticals. It is an additional option for bowel cleansing for people unable to tolerate liquid preps.

Recommended dosage is 32 tablets (48 grams of sodium phosphate) taken with at least 2 quarts of clear liquids. The prep is given in divided doses of 4 tablets with 8 ounces of clear liquid every 15 minutes. Twenty tablets are taken the night before the colonoscopy and an additional 12 pills the next day, 3 to 5 hours prior to colonoscopy. The tablets produce a large amount of watery diarrhea which removes all stool from the colon so that the its walls can be examined for polyps, colorectal cancer, or other abnormalities.

It is critical that patients drink the recommended amount of clear liquids.

Randomized clinical trials conducted by Salix, which will be published later this year, compared the 32 tablet OsmoPrep™ regimen to a kit of 2 liters of HalfLytely™ and Bisacodyl tablets. In the trials a significantly greater percentage of patients who used OsmoPrep™ recorded a mean bowel cleansing score of “excellent” compared to the HalfLytely™ kit users.

Similar oral sodium phosphate preparations, such as Fleet’s Phospho-soda™ (21 patients) and Visicol™ tablets (1 patient) have been implicated in acute phosphate nephropathy, a rare kidney failure. None had used OsmoPrep™.

The OsmoPrep™ manufacturers warn against use of the bowel cleansing prep with patients who have kidney or cardiac conditions or possible bowel obstruction.

Considerable caution should be advised before OsmoPrep Tablets are used in patients with severe renal insufficiency, congestive heart failure, ascites, unstable angina, gastric retention, ileus, acute obstruction or pseudo-obstruction of the bowel, severe chronic constipation, bowel perforation, acute colitis, toxic megacolon, gastric bypass or stapling surgery, or hypomotility syndrome. Use with caution in patients with impaired renal function, patients with a history of acute phosphate nephropathy, known or suspected electrolyte disturbances (such as dehydration), or people taking drugs that affect electrolyte levels. Patients with electrolyte abnormalities such as hypernatremia, hyperphosphatemia, hypokalemia, or hypocalcemia should have their electrolytes corrected before treatment with OsmoPrep Tablets.

More information about the new prep is available on Medscape.

colonoscopy preparation

Posted by Kate Murphy on May 8th, 2006
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »

Elderly people who are frail, older, widowed, or female have more difficulty finishing chemotherapy

Patients with stage III colon cancer are less likely to die from their disease if they receive chemotherapy after surgery to remove their colon tumors (adjuvant treatment). But not all older stage III patients on Medicare will be treated with chemotherapy, and, of those who begin treatment, not all will complete it.

Researchers at the University of Washington discovered factors among elderly patients that led to discontinuing chemotherapy prematurely. Analyzing information from a combined cancer information (SEER) and Medicare database, they found that about 20% of patients did not complete chemotherapy. They had poorer survival than those who were able to finish treatment.

Factors that made it more difficult to complete chemotherapy included:

Being female
Increasing age
Being widowed
Having poor social and psychological support
Frail health
Having to be hospitalized during treatment other than for chemotherapy itself

Race, household income, or clinical information about the tumor did not appear to affect chemotherapy completion. Patients treated by medical oncologists were more likely to finish chemotherapy.

Patients were more likely to be receive adjuvant chemotherapy at all if they were younger than 75, male, married, and living in a higher-income census tract. African Americans had lower rates of chemo.

Sharon A. Dobie and her colleagues reported their findings in the May 3, 2006 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In an accompanying editorial in the same issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Victor Grann and Franco Muggia review the history of adjuvant chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer and call for additional prospective studies that would help understand the factors that predict which patients will be unable to complete a full course of chemotherapy..

Posted by Kate Murphy on May 4th, 2006
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »

A Celebration of Hope with CRC Survivor Vince Papale planned by the Wellness Community of Philadelphia

The Wellness Community of Philadelphia will sponsor a full day symposium A Celebration of Hope on Friday, June 9, 2006 for cancer survivors and their loved ones.

Featured speaker will be former Philadelphia Eagles player Vince Papale who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2001. Five years later he is cancer-free.

Papale came to the Eagles in 1976 as a 30–year-old rookie who had never played college football. He eventually became team captain and was honored by the Eagles as Man of the Year in 1978 for his many charitable activities. His life story is the subject of a soon-to-be-published book and a movie Invincible that will be released in the fall of 2006.

Other speakers during Celebration of Hope include singer and caregiver Phoebe Snow, writer and cancer survivor Wendy Harpham M.D., Dr. Harold Freeman who developed the patient navigator program, and Gabriel Rocco. Dr. Louis Weiner will lead a workshop Frankly Speaking about New Discoveries in Cancer: Special Focus on Colorectal Cancer.