Dr. Indran Krishnan and Georgia Governor Nathan Deal

Indran Krishnan, MD, FRCP (London), FRCP(C), FACP, FACG is fighting colorectal cancer on many fronts. As a gastroenterologist, he personally screens people every week. As an associate professor at Emory University, he trains the next generation of physicians. As an advocate, he serves on Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Board of Directors, and was a founding member of the Georgia Colon Cancer Coalition. In the first 4 months of 2012, Indran stepped up his efforts by:

• Meeting with Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and members of the Georgia legislature to introduce them to Fight Colorectal Cancer and spread the word about screening;
• Attending this year’s Call-on Congress, our annual advocacy training and lobby day; Read the rest of this entry »

When patients  were offered a choice of colorectal cancer screening with either FOBT or colonoscopy, they were significantly more likely to complete that screening than when their doctors recommended only FOBT or only colonoscopy.

Nearly 1000 racially and ethnically diverse patients in urban primary care practices were randomly assigned to get colorectal cancer screening via:

• Fecal occult blood testing (FOBT)
• Colonoscopy, or
• Their choice of either FOBT or colonoscopy.

Overall, 58 percent were screened within the next year.  Read the rest of this entry »

Alaska Native Americans have a much higher rate of both colorectal cancer and resulting deaths than other populations—about twice those of the U.S. white population (age-adjusted) for the period of 2004 to 2008. They also have the highest rate of CRC cases of all Native American groups—nearly five times higher than American Indians living in the Southwest, for example.

The reasons? Unknown. But health officials do know that improved screening can prevent CRC, and earlier CRC detection saves lives. And in fact, statewide screening rates among Alaskan Natives improved from 29 percent in 2000, to 41 percent in 2005. Read the rest of this entry »

A Colon Polyp Snared and Gone

We thought it was true . . . and now research comes along with evidence.

Colonoscopy reduces death from colorectal cancer.

In a follow-up analysis from the National Polyp Study, people who had adenomas — the risky kind of polyps — removed during the study were much less likely to die from colon or rectal cancer than  the general US population.  In fact, removing adenomas cut the death rate from colorectal cancer in half.

We knew that colonoscopies find and remove precancerous polyps and reduce the number of new colorectal cancers, but this is the first study to actually link colonoscopy to cutting back death from colorectal cancer.

There was good news in the study for people who didn’t have adenomas too. They had a very low risk of colorectal cancer death. Only one person out of nearly 800 with no adenomas found at the initial exam  died of colorectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

New guidance from the American College of Physicians advises doctors to evaluate each patient’s individual risk and base colorectal cancer screening on that assessment.

The four point guidance statement says:

• Clinicians should perform an individual colorectal cancer risk assessment for all adults.
• Average risk adults should be screened at age 50. Individuals at high risk should begin screening at age 40 or 10 years before the youngest relative was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
• Average risk individuals should be screened with a stool-based test, flexible sigmoidoscopy, or optical colonoscopy. Colonoscopy should be used to screen patients who are at high risk.
• Clinicians should stop screening for patients over 75 or adults with less than 10 years of life expectancy. Read the rest of this entry »