Fight Colorectal Cancer

For every 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) increase in height, women have a 16 percent increase in their risk of cancer.

Taller women have an even greater risk for colon cancer — 25 percent for every 10 centimeters.  There is a 14 percent increased risk for rectal cancer.

There is about a 37 percent increase in the chance of getting any cancer between the shortest women (less than 5 feet, 1 inch) and the tallest (over 5 feet, 9 inches) according to a very large study in the United Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »

In response to the ongoing leucovorin shortage crisis, Fight Colorectal Cancer has created a Frequently Asked Questions document for patients.

The Fight CRC Answer Line (1-877-427-2111) has fielded over 100 calls from patients who were told they could not receive leucovorin due to a manufacturing shortage in the United States. Many patients, worried and confused, have had trouble determining their options if faced with this issue.

The FAQ addresses issues such as “What choices do I have if my doctor doesn’t have leucovorin?” and “Why is there a leucovorin shortage?”. It also directs patients to the Fight CRC online action center, where they can weigh in on the issue with their Members of Congress.

View and download the FAQ.

New labels for Extra Strength Tylenol® will reduce the maximum daily dose from 8 pills (4000 mg) to 6 pills (3000 mg).

The interval for taking the medicine will also change from 2 pills every 4 to 6 hours to 2 pills every 6 hours.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the makers Tylenol of announced the change to help prevent overdoses of acetaminophen.

Although acetaminophen is safe when used as directed, it is part of over 600 over-the-counter and prescribed medicines.  Maximum doses can be exceeded when people take several different medications at the same time, and too much acetaminophen can cause liver damage. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month, the House Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Appropriations Subcommittee announced that it has postponed consideration of its fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending bill until September.

Delayed consideration of this bill, which funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gives colorectal cancer advocates more time to contact their House and Senate lawmakers when they return home in August.

The message: Funding for colorectal cancer research and prevention must be a priority.

Read the rest of this entry »

Although chemotherapy hasn’t been shown to benefit people with stage II colon cancer as a group, doctors have assumed those patients whose tumors had high risk features for poor survival might live longer if they did get chemo after surgery.

Now, a new study that looked at nearly 44,000  Medicare patients is challenging that assumption.

Medicare patients 66 and older with high risk stage II colon cancer didn’t do better when they received chemotherapy according to an analysis of information in the SEER-Medicare database.   Whether or not they had chemo, their chance of being alive five years after diagnosis was about 56%. Read the rest of this entry »