Research & Treatment News

Continuing Avastin Beyond Initial Cancer Progression Improves Survival Time

Continuing Avastin® (bevacizumab) beyond the time when advanced colorectal cancer gets worse helps patients, according to new study reports. Patients who continued to receive Avastin with a new chemotherapy regimen after their cancer first progressed lived almost 12 months longer than patients who got more chemo but stopped Avastin. Both groups did better than those who had no further treatment at all.

BRiTE (Bevacizumab Regimens:Investigation of Treatment Effects and Safety) observed progress of three groups of patients when their cancer got worse after their first chemotherapy treatments. All patients had Avastin as part of the first chemo, some continued it beyond that first cancer progression. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 17th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 3 Comments »
Tags: Avastin, bevacizumab, chemotherapy, metastatic colorectal cancer

C3 Advocate Brings Laughter to CRC Prevention

Standup comic Brenda Elsagher was once voted the funniest woman in the Twin Cities. Calling her doctor the “rear admiral”, she’s featured in a TV report on colorectal cancer on WCCO, Minneapolis talking about the importance of colonoscopies and colorectal cancer prevention.

Brenda is a research advocate for C3 and weaves colorectal cancer prevention and survivorship messages into her comedy routines, her motivational speaking, and a regular blog.

Diagnosed in her thirties, Brenda has a colostomy that she talks about freely and with humor. In If the Battle is Over Why am I Still in Uniform: Humor as a Survival Tactic to Combat Cancer she discusses her journey with colon cancer, her ostomy, and how laughter helped her come to terms and cope.

She collected the stories of over eighty people affected by ostomies — ostomates, caregivers, medical professionals — in I’d Like to Buy a Bowel Please.

In addition to her work with C3, she is active with the United Ostomy Association of Minneapolis and is part of the NCI Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program.

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 17th, 2008
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News, Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: C3 Advocates, colorectal cancer prevention, ostomies

FDA: ETHEX Recalls Dextroamphetamine Sulfate 5mg Tablets

ETHEX Corporation has recalled three lots of dextroamphetamine sulfate 5mg tablets which may contain oversized pills and up to twice the dose of the drug. ETHEX discovered a small number of oversized tablets in lots that had not yet been distributed. While there have been no reports of oversized tablets from consumers, Ethex is recalling three lots of the drug as a precaution.

The round, orange tablets have ETHEX on one side and 311 on the other. Lots being recalled are numbers 77946, 81141 and 81142. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 16th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 2 Comments »
Tags: FDA, recalls

Positive FOBT Should Trigger Colonoscopy

Even if a patient had a previous clear colonoscopy or all polyps seen on that exam were removed, a new positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) calls for a repeat colonoscopy.

After 21,600 clear colonoscopies done at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Phoenix, 57 patients needed a second colonoscopy after they had a positive FOBT for blood in their stool. Of those one-third (19) had a newly discovered adenomatous polyp and 3 had colon or rectal cancer. One in four of the new adenomas were advanced. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 15th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: colonoscopy