Time to catch up on some colorectal cancer news that we might have missed.

In Nutshell News: Virtual colonoscopy works just as well for over 65′s, over-the-counter and prescription stomach acid is connected to c. difficile diarrhea, and the recession cut into colorectal cancer screening among people with health insurance. Read the rest of this entry »

The short answer is probably not. Most colorectal cancer develops as we age without any notable family history.

But about one in five people with colorectal cancer will have a close family link.

Getting to know that risk is important.

It may mean earlier or more frequent screening. It definitely means talking to your family, learning about Aunt Mary’s uterine cancer, Dad’s polyps, or Grandmother’s stomach problems when she was 35. It means telling them about your own cancer or polyps.

The National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable has a new website to help you search and share your family history with Family PLZ. Read the rest of this entry »

Time to splash Blue all over!

Today is the first day of March and the first day of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

March is full of Blue Awareness, nationally and locally. Spread the message that colorectal cancer is preventable, treatable, and beatable.

Don’t hide your story! Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your coworkers. Get them screened, teach them the symptoms. Get them involved. Read the rest of this entry »

Four members of Congress want their colleagues to wear blue on March 7 to welcome Fight Colorectal Cancer advocates who will be on Capitol Hill that day.

In a Dear Colleagues letter, Charles Dent, Betty McCollum, Michael G. Fitzpatrick, and James P. McGovern asked other members to GO BLUE on March 7 to show their support for the advocates and draw national attention to colorectal cancer.

Their letter emphasized the importance of screening for prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer — the second leading cause of cancer death for men and women in the United States. They said that if everyone age 50 and over were screened for colorectal cancer, the death rate could drop by 50 percent.

The members wrote,

Together, we have the ability to reach thousands of Americans with the message that early detection of colorectal cancer saves lives. Please take a moment in March to help spread the word — give a floor speech, write an op-ed or put out a press release. And remember to “GO BLUE” on March 7.

The counterfeit drug trade has reached global proportions, and solving the problem needs a global approach.

So says an editorial in this week’s The Lancet.

While the Avastin announcement last week raised lots of concern and media attention, the issue of counterfeit drugs isn’t new. In 2009, the European Union seized 34 million fake pills in just two months, including antibiotics, cancer drugs, and sildenafil (Viagra). Counterfeit medicines are a problem for both low and high income countries and can seriously hurt patients.

In January the FDA warned healthcare providers not to buy injectable cancer medications from “direct-to-clinic” promotions or non-verified sources. Such drugs, says the FDA, put patients at risk. Read the rest of this entry »