President’s Cancer Panel Recommends National Priority for Cancer

In a new report Maximizing Our Nation’s Investment in Cancer:Three Crucial Actions for America’s Health the President’s Cancer Panel makes three recommendations to the President that they feel are critical to the battle against cancer in the United States.

• Make reducing the cancer burden a national priority.
• Ensure that all Americans have timely access to needed health care and disease prevention measures.
• End the scourge of tobacco in the United States. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 28th, 2008
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News, Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: cancer research, colorectal cancer prevention, Kate's Thoughts

C3 Advocate Brings Laughter to CRC Prevention

Standup comic Brenda Elsagher was once voted the funniest woman in the Twin Cities.  Calling her doctor the “rear admiral”, she’s featured in a TV report on colorectal cancer on WCCO, Minneapolis talking about the importance of colonoscopies and colorectal cancer prevention.

Brenda is a research advocate for C3 and weaves colorectal cancer prevention and survivorship messages into her comedy routines, her motivational speaking, and a regular blog.

Diagnosed in her thirties, Brenda has a colostomy that she talks about freely and with humor.  In If the Battle is Over Why am I Still in Uniform: Humor as a Survival Tactic to Combat Cancer she discusses her journey with colon cancer, her ostomy, and how laughter helped her come to terms and cope.

She collected the stories of over eighty people affected by ostomies — ostomates, caregivers, medical professionals — in I’d Like to Buy a Bowel Please.

In addition to her work with C3, she is active with the United Ostomy Association of Minneapolis and is part of the NCI Consumer Advocates in Research and Related Activities (CARRA) program.

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 17th, 2008
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News, Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: C3 Advocates, colorectal cancer prevention, ostomies

Women Who Smoke Less Have Equal Risk for CRC as Heavy Male Smokers

Both women and men who are heavy smokers have twice the risk of colorectal cancer or an advanced colon polyp as people who never smoked.  However, women who smoke less have the same risk as men who are heavier smokers. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 11th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: colorectal cancer prevention, smoking

USPSTF Updates Screening Guidelines

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has updated their colorectal cancer screening recommendations.

Changes from the 2002 guidelines include recommendations not to routinely screen people over 75 and not to screen people over 85 at all. Decisions about screening between 76 and 85 need to be made in light of individual health, prior screening, and life expectancy.

The recommendations have dropped barium enema as a screening option. They do not include either CT colonography (CTC or so-called virtual colonoscopy) or DNA stool tests, saying that there was not enough current evidence to judge the harms and benefits of the new technology. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 9th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 4 Comments »
Tags: colorectal cancer prevention, screening

Colorectal Cancer Screening Before 65 Could Save Medicare Dollars

Screening people for colorectal cancer before they reach 65 and are eligible for Medicare could save millions of dollars of future Medicare costs according to a New York City study.

While Medicare covers the cost of screening colonoscopies, people need to be 65 to benefit.  Many uninsured adults from 50 to 64 have no way to get screened for colorectal cancer at all. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 6th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: colorectal cancer prevention, HR 1738, screening