Are you are person living with cancer in New Mexico?

Do you and your family need some time together to learn about managing the challenges of treatment and survivorship?

The Cancer Services of New Mexico offers a three-day escape from the day-to-day challenges of living with cancer this September when the whole family can take part in the Family Cancer Retreat.

The entire weekend is free, but is open only to New Mexico residents.  Read the rest of this entry »

When radioactive beads are injected into the artery feeding the livers of colorectal cancer patients, the time before liver tumors get worse increases, as well as the time to overall cancer progression in the body.

In a process called radioembolization, resin beads loaded with yttrium-90, a radioactive isotope, are injected directly to the  large artery leading to the liver (hepatic artery).  They travel to the tiny blood vessels around liver tumors and emit radiation for about 14 days.

Because tumors receive their blood supply primarily through the hepatic artery while healthy liver receives blood through the portal vein, healthy liver tissue is spared radiation.

The yttrium-90 radioembolization treatment is known as selective internal radiation therapy(SIRT) or SIR-Spheres. Read the rest of this entry »

Judge Judy talks straight at viewers in a video produced by the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA).

Watch it — and tell your friends to listen to the Judge.

Are those steaks and hot dogs bad for you?

Several studies have found a connection between eating red and processed meat and colorectal cancer.  But the reason for that connection hasn’t been clear.

To answer the question, researchers collected detailed information about the type of meat eaten by a large group of over 300,000 men and women and how the meat was  cooked. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the best way to get large groups of people screened for colorectal cancer?

Surprisingly it may not be colonoscopy but fecal occult blood testing (FOBT).

A computer model has found annual home testing with a  fecal occult  blood test, either Hemoccult II® or Hemoccult SENSA®,  is more cost-effective than colonoscopy every 10 years to screen people of average risk for colorectal cancer.

The model compared the number of life years saved under several scenarios of costs and  compliance with annual testing and follow-up colonoscopies after positive guaiac tests.  For the same fixed budget, more people could be screened with an FOBT and more life years saved. Read the rest of this entry »