Got a 2008 Colondar Yet?

That old 2007 calendar doesn’t work today! 

But you can get a brand-new 2008 Colondar from the Colon Club featuring young colon and rectal cancer survivors baring their scars to raise colorectal cancer awareness.

Henry Yu, Mr. May, was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 1999.  His surgery resulted in a permanent ostomy, but hasn’t held him back from becoming an active survivor and advocate.

A peer counselor for others facing cancer, he also is a member of a dragon-boat racing team Paddle Past Cancer, in addition to a variety of fundraising and colorectal cancer awareness activities.  He is particularly concerned about rising cancer rates among Asians.

In his biography, Henry writes,

My Aunt Irene passed away from cancer in early 2007. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her brave soul and deep heart. She’s my inspiration.

The Colon Club reminds people that colorectal cancer affects young people too. 

Posted by Kate Murphy on January 2nd, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »

Score predicts survival after surgery for liver mets from colorectal cancer

Surgery to remove colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver has excellent outcomes in some patients.  A percentage will be alive and cancer-free five years after surgery.  But predicting which patients will benefit can be difficult.

Using only two factors that could be measured before surgery, doctors have developed a simple predictive score of the probability that a patient will be alive five years after surgery.

Scoring depends on two items:

• 8 or more metastatic tumors in the liver
• presence of inflammatory response to tumor (IRT)

When tumor cells enter the liver, there may be an inflammatory response that pathologists believe contributes to the development of a new tumor or liver metastasis.  Inflammatory response to tumor in this study was defined using two markers of inflammation, either:

• elevated C-reactive protein over 10 mg/L, or
• a neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) greater than 5:1

Scoring was from 0 to 2 with

• 0 — fewer than 8 metastatic tumors and no inflammatory response
• 1 — either 8 or more mets or inflammatory response to tumor
• 2 — both 8 or more mets and inflammatory response

Surgeons kept records for almost 700 patients who had surgery to remove liver metastases from colorectal cancer from 1993 through 2006.  By measuring the number of mets and the presence or absence of inflammatory response to tumor, they found that:

• Overall five year survival for the entire group was 45 percent.
• Five year survival for patients with a score of 0 was 49 percent
• Five year survival for those with a score of 1 was 34 percent.
• No patients with a score of 2 were alive at five years.

Hassan Z. Malik MD, FRCS and colleagues concluded

The preoperative prognostic score is a simple and effective system allowing preoperative stratification.

SOURCE: Malik et al, Annals of Surgery, Volume 246, Issue 5, November 2007.

Posted by Kate Murphy on January 2nd, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 2 Comments »

New Year’s Resolution: Get Screened for Colorectal Cancer

New Year’s Resolutions

• If you will be 50 this year, plan with your doctor to begin a regular colorectal cancer screening program.
• If you are older than 50 and haven’t been screened, make an appointment for screening today.
• Learn the symptoms of colon and rectal cancer, and if you have one, get a colonoscopy — no matter how young you are.

Help make sure every American has access to colorectal cancer screening.  Go to CoverYourButt.Org and learn how.

Have a Happy and Health New Year!

Posted by Kate Murphy on December 31st, 2007
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Given before surgery for liver mets, Avastin reduces tumors and protects the liver

Added to FOLFOX chemotherapy, Avastin® (bevacizumab) reduced active colorectal cancer that had spread to the liver and also protected the liver from chemo damage before surgery.

A research team at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas studied liver tumors from colorectal cancer patients removed during surgery and also changes in non-cancerous liver tissue.  They compared liver pathology from patients who received oxaliplatin and 5FU (FOLFOX) alone to those who were treated with Avastin along with FOLFOX.

Tumor viability was defined as the percentage of remaining active cancer compared to overall tumor area.

When Avastin was added to FOLFOX chemotherapy,

• There was significantly less tumor viability — 32.9 percent compared to 45.3 percent.
• More patients had less than 25 percent remaining viable tumor cells  — 45 percent versus 23 percent.
• However, there was no difference in the percentage of patients whose tumors responded completely, resulting in no cancer cells present.  About 11 percent of patients in both groups had a complete pathologic response to treatment before surgery.

In addition, Avastin protected the liver from chemotherapy damage.  Changes in small blood vessels in the liver known as hepatic sinusoidal dilation occurred less often and was less severe:

• Any grade:  27.4 percent versus 53.5 percent in those who did not receive Avastin.
• Moderate or severe:  8.1 percent compared to 27.9 percent.

Speaking for the research team, Dario Riberio MD wrote,

In patients treated with 5FU/OX chemotherapy, bevacizumab improves the pathologic response, as demonstrated by a reduction of the degree of tumor viability, and reduces the incidence and severity of hepatic injury. This retrospective study provides additional evidence supporting the use of bevacizumab in combination with 5FU/OX for colorectal liver metastases.

SOURCE:  Riberio et al, Cancer, Volume 110, Issue 12, December 2007.

Disclosure: C3 has accepted funding for projects and educational programs from Genentech in the form of unrestricted educational grants. C3 has ultimate authority over website content.

Posted by Kate Murphy on December 28th, 2007
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »

Removing both liver and lung mets from colorectal cancer can lead to long-term survival

Colorectal cancer patients who had surgery to remove tumors in both lungs and liver had a good chance of being alive five years later.

Surgeons in a single hospital in Seoul, South Korea reviewed cases where patients had lung and liver tumors removed between 1995 and 2004.  They found 32 colorectal cancer patients who’d had operations at both sites.

After five years more than sixty percent of patients who’d had surgery were still alive. The average time before any cancer returned was 44 months.  None died during or after surgery.

Won-Suk Lee and colleagues concluded,

An aggressive surgical treatment of selected colorectal cancer patients with lung and liver metastases resulted in prolonged survival. The 5-year survival rate of 60.8% with no perioperative mortality was observed in our study.

SOURCE:  Lee et al. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, published early online, December 16, 2007.

Posted by Kate Murphy on December 28th, 2007
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »