One of the major sites of tumor spread of colon cancer spread is the liver.

The liver can compensate for a long time despite having large tumors.  This is reason that our blood tests of liver function remain normal despite the liver having multiple lesions.  However, if the tumors grow to a certain size or interfere with the bile ducts, they can cause the liver enzymes. including the bilirubin, to increase. When bilirubin increases patients develop jaundice, indicating that the liver is not functioning well. Read the rest of this entry »

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer in the U.S.

In the month of March we are working to increase awareness that lives can be saved with screening. and colorectal cancer often can be prevented.

There is no shame in preventing cancer, and there are no reasons not to undergo screening. I have done my colonoscopy myself since I have a family history of colon cancer. It was pretty easy. The worst was the preparation a day before…which, in fact, was my day in Norris clinic. When I can do it, you can.

Regular screening tests can find precancerous polyps so they can be removed before they turn into cancer. We know that screening with colonoscopies can also find colorectal cancer early when treatment can cure the cancer.
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I have a patient, in fact a movie producer with metastatic colon cancer, who had liver metastases. He enrolled in a clinical trial (SWOG 80405) and responded very well to chemotherapy. His liver metastases were not resectable at first, but because his tumor shrank so dramatically, he became resectable. He underwent surgery with curative intent, meaning to remove all tumors, which was successful. He finished further chemotherapy and is right now cancer free. He is one of the success stories of aggressive chemotherapy.

He did very well with chemotherapy and he attributes his attitude and very few side effects to his regular tai chi. So I did some research on tai chi and found interesting information I wanted to share with you. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last 5 years many support groups and websites have been developed which offer information, resources, access to groups and chat rooms, and even radio stations.

It is not easy to navigate through the overwhelming information available on the web. It is even more important today that we evaluate these information sources to make a better decisions on treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

For the month of March, which is Colon Cancer Awareness Month, I want to review the early symptoms of colon cancer so we can prevent this disease more successfully. Colon cancer is one of the few cancer you can prevent by doing colonoscopies.

The general recommendation is to have a baseline colonoscopy at 50 years and then repeat it every 5 to 10 years, which reflects that polyps or colon cancer development takes a long time. This leaves a window of opportunity to do the screening, remove polyps, and prevent colon cancer. Read the rest of this entry »