Being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes makes it more likely that men and women with colorectal cancer will die from colon or rectal cancer, from cardiovascular disease, or from any cause.

Diabetes increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer about 30 percent and more than doubled chances of dying from heart disease or stroke.  Overall deaths among early stage colon and rectal cancer patients was increased about 50 percent when they had diabetes before their colorectal cancer diagnosis.

For patients initially diagnosed with stage I, II, or III cancer, the chance of not dying from colorectal cancer within 5 years was 82 percent with Type 2 diabetes and 87 percent without it.

Five years after a colorectal cancer diagnosis about 3 out of 10 patients with diabetes died from any disease, compared to 2 out of 10 without diabetes.

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In a surprising results, doctors studying surgical complications and hospital deaths after colorectal surgery found that diabetic patients do better than non-diabetics after surgery.

There was a 23 percent reduction in deaths after surgery for diabetics and 18 percent fewer complications.

Unfortunately, this improvement in outcomes did not extend to the uninsured or to people under 50. Read the rest of this entry »

Briefly

Patients with diabetes aren’t any more likely to develop neuropathy in hands and feet when treated with oxaliplatin.

Learn more about  current colorectal cancer prevention and treatment at a Memorial Sloan Kettering CancerSmart workshop on November 12.  NIH has a downloaded booklet on palliative care, and Oncology on Canvas is looking for artwork from cancer patients and their families and caregivers. Read the rest of this entry »