Being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes makes it more likely that men and women with colorectal cancer will die from colon or rectal cancer, from cardiovascular disease, or from any cause.

Diabetes increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer about 30 percent and more than doubled chances of dying from heart disease or stroke.  Overall deaths among early stage colon and rectal cancer patients was increased about 50 percent when they had diabetes before their colorectal cancer diagnosis.

For patients initially diagnosed with stage I, II, or III cancer, the chance of not dying from colorectal cancer within 5 years was 82 percent with Type 2 diabetes and 87 percent without it.

Five years after a colorectal cancer diagnosis about 3 out of 10 patients with diabetes died from any disease, compared to 2 out of 10 without diabetes.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a nutshell:

A brief look this week at

• Blood sugar and colorectal cancer risk
• Outcomes for people with defective mismatch repair on oxaliplatin
• Medicare’s preventive services

Read the rest of this entry »

Obese people on Medicare  now have the opportunity to have regular weight loss counseling paid for when offered by a primary care provider.  Since this is considered prevention, there is no co-pay.

On November 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that there was enough evidence that intensive behavioral counseling was reasonable and necessary to prevent disease or disability and that Medicare beneficiaries were entitled to coverage as a preventive service.

This is particularly good news for people trying to prevent colon or rectal cancer since studies have consistently found a link between body mass index (fatness) and colorectal cancer, including the World  Cancer Research Foundation which included BMI and colorectal cancer in their 2007 comprehensive analysis reported in  Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Today there are more than 1 million survivors of colon and rectal cancer in the United States, probably 600,000 to 700,000 with no sign of cancer.

And we are grateful for their courage and persistence and for all the people that have made more cures and longer survival possible.

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship defines  someone as a cancer survivor from the time of diagnosis and for the balance of life. Read the rest of this entry »

Although FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg announced a final decision on November 18 to drop breast cancer from the Avastin label, metastatic colorectal cancer continues to be an approved use.

The Avastin® (bevacizumab) label includes the following approved indication:

Metastatic colorectal cancer, with intravenous 5-fluorouracil–based chemotherapy for first- or second-line treatment.

It is important to know that there is currently no approval or evidence for using Avastin alone or in early stage colon or rectal cancer.