Fight Colorectal Cancer

1. Facts are first. Therapies vary greatly from on cancer to another and even among the same kind of cancer. Educate yourself on the resources and information on Cancer Centers and Specialty Center in your area. Your general physician is a good first stop to obtain information about your specific disease.
2. Assign one person to coordinate contact with the primary oncologist. This will make the lines of communication run more smoothly. Although there will often be a team of experts physicians making decisions and managing your care, the primary oncologist will be the main point person for you and your family.

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Although colorectal cancer death rates are falling for both whites and blacks in the United States, the decline is steeper for whites and the gap between races is growing.

A new  report from the American Cancer Society, Colorectal Cancer: Facts and Figures 2008-2010, finds that African American men and women are more likely than the rest of the U.S. population to get colon or rectal cancer and much more likely to die of it.  In 2005, the death rate for African Americans was 48 percent higher than that for whites.

Officials at the ACS attribute the difference to lower colorectal cancer screening rates, poorer insurance coverage, and fewer African Americans receiving recommended surgical and chemotherapy treatments.

Incidence and death rates for Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans are lower than for white and the overall populations.

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Colorectal cancer develops with few, if any, symptoms at first.

It depends a little on the location of the colon cancer. If the cancer is closer to the anus (left side), symptoms may include blood in or on the stool, a change in bowel habits, stools that are narrower than usual and general weakness and weight loss. These symptoms are more typical for colon cancer and physicians would easily recommend a colonoscopy for further work up. However if the tumor is on the right side, almost a foot away from the anus, the symptoms may be more  general such as unexplained stomach discomfort, frequent gas, pains, or indigestion, unexplained weight loss and chronic fatigue.

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Patients being treated for the first time with chemotherapy and Avastin® (bevacizumab) do worse if Vectibix™ (panitumumab) is added to their chemotherapy.  Median time until the cancer progresses is shorter, and they have more serious side effects.

KRAS status made no difference.  Both patients with wild-type and mutated KRAS in their tumors had worse outcomes when panitumumab was part of their treatment.

The research team recommends that Vectibix not be added to chemotherapy with Avastin to treat colorectal cancer that has spread. Read the rest of this entry »

Patients recovering from abdominal surgery benefited from having plants in their hospital rooms.  They had less pain, needed lower doses of pain medicine, and had lower heart rates and blood pressure.  As they got better, they spent time watering and tending the plants.

In addition, patients with plants were less fatigued and anxious.   They were happier with their rooms, and 93 percent of them said that the plants were the best part of the room.  Patients without plants said that watching television was the most positive aspect of their hospital stay. Read the rest of this entry »