Smokers, on average, are diagnosed earlier with colon and rectal cancers leading researchers to recommend earlier screening for them in a new study.

Scientists at the University of Rochester studied 3,500 patients with colorectal cancer who completed a questionnaire during treatment at Roswell Park Cancer Institute over 40 years.

Current smokers were diagnosed almost seven years earlier than people who had never smoked — at an average age of 57.4 years compared to 64.2 years for the never-smokers.

People who had been exposed to secondhand smoke were also diagnosed earlier.  If they grew up in households where parents smoked, they were diagnosed on average 8.6 years before those who hadn’t lived with smokers..

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Actavis, Inc. is voluntarily recalling 14 lots of generic fentanyl pain patches sold in the United States because of a defect that may cause the potent fentanyl gel to leak.

There may be a fold-over defect in the patches that can expose patients or caregivers directly to fentanyl gel.  Although Actavis is not aware of any injuries that have been caused by faulty patches, they are recalling them as a precaution.

Unlike a recent recall of 25 mcg Duragesic patches by PriCara, this recall involves all strengths including 25, 50, 75, and 100 mcg/hr.

The FDA is involved in the recall and points out that Actavis South Atlantic LLC was formerly known as Abrika Pharmaceuticals Inc.  The pouches that contain the patches are labeled with an Abrika logo, but the outer carton has the Actavis logo and “Actavis Fentanyl Transdermal System.”

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Last legislative session State Senator David Thomas and Sate Representative Gilda Cobb Hunter introduced companion legislation (S561 & H3530) to mandate colorectal cancer screening coverage in South Carolina.

After pressure from advocates around South Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina has voluntarily agreed to provide colorectal cancer screening coverage for all of their customers fifty years of age and older. This policy change will impact approximately 300,000 South Carolinians.
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Scientists have developed and validated a blood test for ovarian cancer that is more than 95 percent accurate in finding the disease. 

Using a panel of six biomarkers, the team was able to identify ovarian cancer in 95.3 percent of women who had recently been diagnosed with the disease.  None of the healthy controls were positive for the combination marker panel.

Ovarian cancer is a particularly deadly disease since it is hard to recognize and diagnose early when it is most curable.  In 2007, 22,430 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 15,280 will die.  A simple screening test for early detection would save many lives.

The assay tested for concentrations of leptin, prolactin, osteopontin, insulin-like growth factor II, macrophage inhibitory factor, and CA-125.  Although CA-125 is currently used as a test for ovarian cancer, it is not as accurate as the six-marker panel.  None of the biomarkers individually effectively diagnosed cancer, but used together they were both very sensitive in finding cancer and specific in not leading to false positive results.

The research team at the Yale School of Medicine wrote,

We describe the first blood biomarker test with a sensitivity of 95.3% and a specificity of 99.4% for the detection of ovarian cancer. Six markers provided a significant improvement over CA-125 alone for ovarian cancer detection. Validation was performed with a blinded cohort. This novel multiplex platform has the potential for efficient screening in patients who are at high risk for ovarian cancer.

Further testing involving over 2000 women is now underway.

Women who have a genetic mutation for colorectal and related cancers known as Lynch syndrome or HNPCC have about a 10 to 12 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer during their lifetimes.

SOURCE: Visintin et al. Clinical Cancer Research, Volume 14, Issue 4, February 15, 2008.

An additional article by Peter M. Crosta about the study appears online in Medical News Today.

Senator John McCain won the Wisconsin Primary on Tuesday night widening his margin of delegates over second place Mike Huckabee.

Though McCain pulls to an unreachable lead over Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas refuses to drop out of the race. “We see the last stand only when somebody has 1,191 delegates,” Huckabee said Tuesday.

On the Democratic side Senator Barack Obama came out on top in Wisconsin. The race between Obama and Senator Hilary Clinton remains tight with both candidates looking ahead to the March 4th primaries in Ohio and Texas, The winner of those states stand to gain a substantial bump in their number of delegates.

The fight for Commander in Chief wages on with all candidates fighting for their respected party’s nomination.

Stayed tuned to the never ending soap opera we like to call American Politics.