Serious side effects were reduced when research radiologists used a special technique to target the most radiation on anal cancer tumors, while sparing nearby normal tissue.

Reported at the recent 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) did not reduce overall side effects during chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but it did cut down on the most serious bladder, bowel, and skin problems.

At the same time, IMRT was a good as traditional external beam radiation in preventing local recurrences and the need for colostomies.  Survival after two years was also similar to a previous study that did not use the technique. Read the rest of this entry »

Surgeons at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have identified 87 genes that someday may tell doctors whether or not rectal cancer patients need surgery after chemotherapy and radiation.  The panel of genes predicted patients whose cancer appeared to be completely destroyed by the combination of chemotherapy and radiation before surgery, what is called pathological complete response.

Before it can become routine practice, the gene panel will need to be checked in another group of patients and clinical trials will need to be conducted to see if patients who have pathological complete responses and no surgery do as well as those who do have surgery. Read the rest of this entry »

At ASCO a number of studies showed the efficacy data of combining 5-FU or Xeloda with oxaliplatin in combination with radiation therapy in patients with rectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers tried to push the envelope in treating rectal and anal cancer by adding new or different chemotherapy to standard chemoradiotherapy.  However, two trials in rectal cancer and one in anal cancer were not able to improve complete response rates for chemoradiation.  Adding extra chemotherapy after radiation was finished didn’t improve relapse-free survival for anal cancer either. Read the rest of this entry »

The more tumors shrink during chemotherapy and radiation before rectal cancer surgery, the better the chance that patients will survive and be cancer-free five years later.

Doctors in Ireland developed a simple, three point, tumor regression grade or TRG, to measure the amount of change during chemoradiotherapy before surgery to remove rectal cancer.  After five years, all patients with the best tumor regression grade — complete or near complete response to chemoradiation — were alive and disease-free. Read the rest of this entry »