Eartha Kitt at the Cafe Carlyle (Photo from the NY Times)

Eartha Kitt died on December 25, 2008 of colon cancer.  She was 81.

Her cancer was diagnosed and treated two years ago.  After a period of remission, it recurred leading to her death today. Read the rest of this entry »

On December 23, 2008 Ethex Corporation recalled one lot of 2 mg hydromorphone tablets because it may contain oversized pills.

Hydromorphone is used to manage pain.  Too high a dose could cause difficulty breathing, excessive sedation, or low blood pressure.  Patients taking hydromorphone who experience these adverse effects should contact their doctor immediately.  If the patient cannot breathe or doesn’t respond, call 911.

The lot recalled is #90219.  The round tablets are blue with a script “E” on one side and a “2″ on the other side.  Hydromorphone is also marketed by Abbott with the brandname Dilaudid® Read the rest of this entry »

Cancer increases the risk of gallbladder attacks (cholecystitis), particularly in the first six months after diagnosis.  In a study of over 50,000 cancer patients in Denmark, the risk of a gallbladder infection was twice that of the general population in those first six months.

Risk for people with colorectal cancer was nearly five times that of people who didn’t have cancer.

After six months, risk went down, but there was still about a 25 percent greater chance that someone with cancer would have pain from an inflamed or infected gallbladder Read the rest of this entry »

Over half of patients whose colorectal cancer had spread to their abdominal cavity were alive five years after treatment in a French center with surgery and heated chemo.  This was substantially better than those who only received modern chemotherapies without surgery.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis is diagnosed when cancer spreads into the abdominal cavity and tumors develop on the surface of abdominal organs.  In the past peritoneal carcinomatosis has been a difficult condition to treat with very poor results from chemotherapy.  However, surgery to remove all signs of tumor followed by washing the open abdomen after surgery with heated chemotherapy is achieving some remarkable results. Read the rest of this entry »

People are more likely to get a colorectal cancer screening if it is scheduled during December or around their birthdays.  Norwegians who received an invitation from the  Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Prevention Trial to come in for a sigmoidoscopy in December kept that appointment more often than in any other month.

Reminders sent the week of a person’s birthday also increased the possibility that they would keep their appointment. Read the rest of this entry »