Fight Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer patients with a KRAS mutation in their tumors benefit when Avastin® (bevacizumab) is added to chemotherapy, as do patients with no mutation or wild-type KRAS.

Both the time until cancer got worse (progression-free survival) and time patients lived after beginning treatment (survival) were better when Avastin was added to chemotherapy regardless of tumor KRAS mutation.  Avastin did not improve overall response rates in the patients with KRAS mutations.

However, overall prognosis is worse for patients with KRAS mutations than those with wild-type KRAS with either chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy with Avastin.  As a group, they tend to live for a shorter time and have their tumors progress more quickly.

Results of an analysis of 280 tumor samples from an earlier Phase III trial comparing chemotherapy with Camptosar® (irinotecan), 5FU, and leucovorin to the same chemotherapy plus Avastin were presented at the World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona in June, 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

Nearly all patients who are treated with Vectibix™ (panitumumab) will develop an itchy skin rash that looks something like acne.  However, treating the rash preemptively  before it appears reduces its severity and lengthens the time before more serious rash appears.

During the STEPP (Skin Toxicity Evaluation Protocol with Panitumumab) trial, researchers randomized patients who were being treated with Vectibix to either preemptive skin rash management at the beginning of chemotherapy or reactive treatment once rash appeared.  After six weeks, 70 percent of patients treated preemptively had not developed grade 2 skin rash.  Sixty-two percent of the reactive group already had rash that was grade 2 or higher. Read the rest of this entry »

Another study has found better survival after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer in younger women. Among over two thousand colon and rectal cancer patients In Australia, women under the age of 50 had about half the risk of dying from colorectal cancer than men under 50. Better survival held true despite where the cancer was found, its stage or grade, and whether emergency surgery was necessary to treat it.

However, women over 50 had about 40 percent poorer survival than men over 50.  Again, stage, site, or grade at the time of diagnosis didn’t matter. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and the rest of the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2009 spending bill.

The bill makes major investments in healthcare including:

Colorectal Screenings – The Subcommittee provided $25 million to establish a nation-wide program to support colorectal screenings for low-income individuals.

Read the rest of this entry »

More News from ASCO 2008

Although men and women with metastatic colon or rectal cancer have similar overall survival after their diagnosis, age has an impact.  Women in premenopausal years, 18 to 44, live longer than younger men.  However, after the age of 75, women have significant worse survival than men.

Across all age groups, Hispanics survive the longest, followed by whites, Asians, African Americans, and, finally, Native Americans according to a study from the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and reported at ASCO. Read the rest of this entry »