A patient navigator who speaks the patient’s language and has time to spend answering questions and removing barriers makes a difference in whether that patient will get colorectal screening.

A study in Boston randomly assigned community patient navigators to half of a diverse group of low-income patients who were behind in colorectal cancer screening.  Compared to patients who received usual health care, patients who got help from a patient navigator were more likely to complete screening, have a colonoscopy, and have polyps detected and removed. Read the rest of this entry »

When I was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1983, less than half of patients lived more than five years.  Today two out of three can expect to be alive and cancer-free for many years.

We are where we are today because of thousands of cancer researchers spent millions of hours in their labs, often frustrated, sometimes led up blind alleys, but always persistent.  Their work has led to understanding how cancer works and how we can stop it. Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday, May 16th, 2011, Dr. Andrew Kennedy, a well-known researcher in liver metastases, led a Fight Colorectal Cancer webinar discussing an issue that affects thousands of colorectal cancer patients.

Colorectal cancer often metastasizes first to the liver, so learning how to manage growth of those tumors can help with patient survival.  

Treatment of liver mets has come a long way in the last two decades. You can learn about these developments in an archive of the webinar below.

Our thanks to Dr. Andrew Kennedy for leading the discussion. His extensive knowledge of this issue is highly respected in the field of radiology. He graciously donated his time to bring this information to patients.

Webinar: Treating Liver Metastases from Fight Colorectal Cancer on Vimeo.

After a normal colonoscopy when no polyps are found, guidelines call for a repeat test in 10 years.

However, almost half of Medicare patients with a negative colonoscopy got another exam within 7 years, and for one in four there was no clear evidence that they needed one.

Because colonoscopies have real risks and are expensive, over-testing can be both dangerous and costly. Given limited numbers of physicians who do colonoscopies, unecessary procedures add to long waiting lists for screening and for necessary follow-up exams.

Although Medicare regulations call for reimbursement only after 10 years in cases where the first procedure didn’t find a problem, payments are being made for earlier exams.  In fact, Medicare denied payment for only 2 percent of colonoscopies for which there was no clear indication of need. Read the rest of this entry »

Watch Nancy Roach tell AACR members and advocates how they can join the effort for cancer research funding.

Speaking at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Nancy said,

If public funding for biomedical research matters to you, get involved.

Nancy represented the voice of advocates in an AACR discussion of The Outlook for Cancer Research Funding in the Coming Years: The Importance of Advocacy and Government Relations.

She was joined by former Illinois Congressman John Edward Porter, Shannon K. Bell from the NCI Office of Advocacy Relations, and Jon G. Retzlaff who is the managing director of Science Policy and Government Affairs for AACR.

You can also hear John Edward Porter and Shannon Bell on the AACR website.