New Report Reveals Widespread Problems with Endoscopy Cleaning Procedures at VA

Even after problems were found with how endoscopes were cleaned at three Veterans Administration medical centers earlier this year, surprise inspections found that over half additional VA medical facilities visited could not demonstrate compliance with proper procedures for safely cleaning endoscopes after each use.

A report revealing the extent of problems from the VA Office of the Inspector General was discussed during a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation on July 16, 2009.

Congress member Steven Buyer, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, who requested the meeting to review the report said:

I asked for the InspectorGeneral to become involved after the Miami incident, because I suspected the problem was systemic. Now that we know it is, I am deeply concerned that this problem is expansive and it goes well beyond VA. What is happening at HHS and the Department of Defense? What is happening in our greater health system?

Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 18th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 3 Comments »
Tags: colonoscopy, Veterans Administration

Colorectal Cancers Associated with Urological Cancers

A recent study by Dr. Rubin from the University of Chicago evaluated over 180,000 patients with urological cancers such as renal pelvis and ureteral cancers and over 350,000 with colorectal cancer.

It is known that families with a genetic predisposition to colon cancer known as HNPCC (hereditary colorectal cancers) are at higher risk to develop additional cancers such as upper gastrointestinal cancers, ovarian and endometrium cancers but also renal cancers. This is one of the first and largest studies to connect colorectal and urological cancers. Continue reading…

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on June 17th, 2009
Posted in: From the Desk of Dr. Lenz | No Comments »
Tags: colorectal cancer risk, urological cancer

Response to Chemo Before Liver Met Resection Doesn’t Predict Survival

Patients who had tumors shrink in response to chemotherapy given before they had surgery for colorectal cancer that had spread to their livers had no better long-term survival than patients whose cancer remained the same or even got worse.

Doctors in New York followed 111 patients who had chemotherapy before surgery to remove liver metastases (neoadjuvant chemotherapy). After five years of follow-up, median overall survival was 62 months.  Overall survival was similar in three different groups:  those who had a complete or partial response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, those whose tumors remained stable, and those whose cancer progressed during chemotherapy. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 16th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 1 Comment »
Tags: chemotherapy, hepatic arterial infusion, liver metastases

Colorectal Cancer Rates Increasing Worldwide

As nations develop economically and adopt more Western diet and lifestyle, colorectal cancer increases.  In fact, the United States is the only nation in the world where colorectal cancer incidence rates are falling for both men and women.

Over the past 20 years, colorectal cancer rates have risen in 27 of 51 countries including Eastern Europe, most of Asia, and some South American countries.  Rates for men are rising faster than those for women. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 15th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: colorectal cancer incidence, colorectal cancer prevention

Avastin Doesn’t Improve Disease-Free Survival in Stage II/III Colon Cancer

Although adding Avastin® (bevacizumab) to FOLFOX chemotherapy showed an effect on reducing recurrences in people with stage II and III colon cancer one year after treatment began, the impact began to fade in the second year, and was completely gone at three years.

There was a transient benefit in the year during which Avastin was given every two weeks, with a 40 percent reduction in the risk of recurrence.  At the end of the first year patients who had been given Avastin had a 94.2 percent chance of being alive and cancer-free compared to 90.7 percent of patients who did get it.

However, at three years disease-free survival was 77.4 percent in the Avastin patients compared to 75.5 percent for those without it, a non-significant difference. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 15th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 2 Comments »