Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals has withdrawn Darvon®, Darvon-N®, and Darvocet® from the US market at the request of the FDA.

Even in recommended doses, Darvon (propoxyphene) can cause changes in heart activity which can be seen on an electrocardiogram (ECG) adding to the risk of serious changes in heart rhythm.

On November 19, 2010, The FDA recommended that health professionals stop prescribing any propoxyphene immediately and that patients who are using it contact their doctor about the right way to stop.

If your doctor has prescribed a drug that contains Darvon for you, the doctor should contact you to discuss other ways of managing pain and safely discontinuing its use. Read the rest of this entry »

Just for today, don’t smoke!

Nearly 47 million Americans risk their lives — and increase their risk for colorectal cancer — by smoking.

But the good news is that 30 years ago, 1 in 3 people in the US smoked.  Today that has dropped to 1 in 5.

Today, November 18, is a chance to try life without tobacco.  The American Cancer Society hopes that people who stop smoking today will stay smoke-free.

Need help? The National Cancer Institute has tools to help you if you are still struggling with smoking.

Infusions of calcium and magnesium can reduce numbness and tingling caused by oxaliplatin without affecting survival, according to a recent study in the Netherlands.  But the infusions didn’t affect treatment success.

Most colorectal cancer patients being treated with oxaliplatin chemotherapy experience some sensory peripheral neuropathy that may vary from mild tingling in their hands and feet to pain and difficulty walking.  Although peripheral neuropathy usually gets better within a few months after treatment ends, it can last years for some patients.

Sometimes patients need to stop oxaliplatin treatments before they get full advantage from them because of this troublesome side effect. Read the rest of this entry »

A commonly used treatment for prostate cancer may increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

Older men with prostate cancer who received treatment that reduced androgen had a 30 to 40 percent higher risk of getting colorectal cancer than men who didn’t have the therapy. The longer they received the treatment, the greater their risk.

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is approved for treatment for men with advanced prostate cancer, but its use is controversial in older men with earlier, low-risk cancer although it is widely used in those men.

The link of ADT to colorectal cancer may help lower-risk men make a decision about therapy for their prostate cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Too many people avoid colonoscopy.  Too invasive, they say.  Too scary, too risky.

There may be an answer for them in an improved stool test that looks for DNA that is changed in both colorectal cancer and some precancerous polyps.

Of course, if the stool test identifies possible polyps or cancer, a colonoscopy is critical to evaluate the findings and remove polyps.

The test that looks for methylated DNA in human feces, found 85 percent of cancers and 64 percent of large adenomas.  There were few false positives.  Only one in ten follow-up colonoscopies didn’t confirm cancer or adenomas. Read the rest of this entry »