Colon cancer patients with a first-degree relative who also had colon cancer have a significantly better prognosis.
In a recent study, even after all risk factors were taken into consideration, they had less chance of cancer recurring and less chance of dying than people without a close family history.
However, the same thing was not true for rectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »
Colon cancers that are caused by defects in genes that repair damaged DNA don’t respond well to 5-FU treatment after surgery.
However, a new analysis of patients treated with FOLFOX (oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and 5-FU) found no differences between patients with deficient mismatch repair tumors and those with normal gene expression.
In this small study of 135 patients, the research team concluded that adding oxaliplatin to 5-FU and leucovorin may overcome resistance to chemotherapy in mismatch repair deficient and microsatellite instable (MSI) colon cancer. Read the rest of this entry »
For stage II and III colon cancer, a tumor mutation in the KRAS gene does not impact either relapse-free survival or overall survival.
BRAF mutations, which are less common, don’t help with prognosis for relapse-free survival, but do provide information about overall survival in some tumors. Patients with BRAF mutations and microsatellite-low or stable tumors had poorer overall survival than those without mutations. Read the rest of this entry »
Swedish scientists reported in the American Cancer Society Journal of Natural Products that cardiac glycosides, which are a family of naturally derived drugs which are used to treat congestive heart failure and arrhythmia, show anti-tumor activity against colon cancer cells. Read the rest of this entry »
While colonoscopy is effective in preventing cancers and advanced polyps in the lower part of the colon and rectum, it is less successful in stopping them in the right side or upper colon.
Looking back at almost 3,300 colonoscopies performed in community gastroenterology practices in Germany, researchers found a substantial reduction in large polyps or cancers in the left side of the colon and rectum among patients who had had a colonoscopy in the past ten years compared to those who hadn’t had one.
However, in the upper part of the colon, risk for an advanced polyp or cancer was the same whether or not the patient had a previous colonoscopy.
Overall, colonoscopy reduced the risk of a cancer or an advanced adenoma by 50 percent.
