A small study has found ginger supplements reduce markers of inflammation in the colon tissue of 30 healthy volunteers..

• Does this mean eating more ginger or taking ginger supplements will reduce colon cancer risk?  We don’t know, and this study doesn’t ask or answer that question?
• Does ginger actually reduce inflammation in the colon? Or just cut back  some inflammatory markers that it might be temporarily present?  We don’t know.
• Will ginger have similar side effects as other agents that we know do reduce inflammation like aspirin? We don’t know. For the short time volunteers were taking ginger there didn’t seem to be any difference in side effects, but what may happen long-term . . . We Just Don’t Know!

There is a lot we don’t know. Yet, ginger is being touted by the media as preventing or fighting colon cancer. True, many headlines are hedging bets with words like “may” but the implication is still there.

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There was frost on the grass this morning when I let the little dog out.  A hard freeze is predicted for the next few nights, a sign that winter and its ice and snow isn’t far off.

Cold is a special problem for people who are getting Eloxatin® (oxaliplatin) for colon and rectal cancer.  Almost all patients on FOLFOX will experience acute neuropathy within a few hours of each oxaliplatin infusion.  This is acute, short-term, and ends within few days.

About a third will go on to a chronic peripheral neuropathy that begins as oxaliplatin doses accumulate.  Most patients will experience some tingling and numbness in their hands and feet.  A very few will have pain and difficulty walking.

Chronic neuropathy usually fades in the months after treatment ends, but may linger as long as a year or 18 months.  It remains a long-term problem for a small percentage of patients.

As cold weather approaches, you need to take care if you are on FOLFOX treatment or have peripheral neuropathy left over from previous treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

The FDA has changed the package insert for Avastin® (bevacizumab) to include information about newly identified risks for the drug including

• Loss of ovarian function (ovarian failure).
• Bone death in the jaw (osteonecrosis).
• Bleeding and additional blood clots in patients who have already had a clot in their veins while on Avastin.

Changes to the Avastin label were announced on September 30, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

If you missed the FDA Webinar on Drug Shortages last Friday, you can

Watch a video of the entire presentation, including questions.

Download the webinar slides.

The webinar, led by Captain Valerie Jensen, R.Ph., Associate Director for the FDA’s Drug Shortage Program, discusses how the FDA responds to drug shortages and what they are doing to try to prevent shortages of medically necessary drugs. Read the rest of this entry »

Colorectal Cancer News in a Nutshell

Summer’s over. The black squirrels in the front yard are scurrying around hunting acorns and my inbox is full of neat nuggets of colorectal cancer news — and I don’t want to leave them buried all winter.

So here they are in brief.  You can check the links for more details.

Mixed Results Using Acupuncture for Radiation Nausea

The good news is that almost all patients felt they had less nausea after either real or sham acupuncture to manage nausea and vomiting during radiation therapy.  Nine out of ten wanted more treatments. Read the rest of this entry »