Fight Colorectal Cancer

Are men and women with severe cancer pain treated in the same way?

Although both sexes reported the same level of worst pain in a past week, men were more likely to have a prescription for high-potency pain medicine and receive higher doses of morphine.

Women being first evaluated at a cancer pain clinic reported more pain “right now” and higher average pain during the past week.  However, a review of their medical charts showed they were getting  less morphine and had higher average pain scores than men.  They were more likely to say that their pain was poorly controlled. Read the rest of this entry »

Congress on Saturday sent a Continuing Resolution (CR) to the President for his signature. This bill will keep the Government running until March 2009. The total cost of the bill, which was approved by a 78 – 12 vote in the Senate, has a price tag of $634 billion.

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When physicians exam the rectum with a gloved finger, they are unlikely to find a real tumor and more likely to refer patients unnecessarily for further tests.  Digital rectal exams are a poor way to accurately identify rectal cancer according to a recently published study from the United Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »

Although giving radiation before rectal cancer surgery reduces the risk that cancer will return in the rectum and nearby tissues, it does so at a cost.  Quality-of-life studies that accompanied a trial of a short course of radiation therapy before surgery  found more sexual and bowel problems with presurgical radiation. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Joel Tepper

Joel E. Tepper, M.D., a member of the C3 Medical Advisory Network, has received the Gold Medal Award, the highest honor that the American Society for Radiation Therapy and Oncology (ASTRO) gives to its members. He received the medal during an awards ceremony on September 23, 2008 at ASTRO’s 50th Annual Meeting in Boston. Read the rest of this entry »