Early Tumor Shrinkage Points to Good Erbitux Outcomes

Patients with advanced colorectal cancer whose tumors have gotten smaller six weeks after starting treatment with Erbitux had a much longer time before their cancer got worse and almost twice the overall survival as patients whose tumors didn’t shrink.

Patients in the BOND study had already gotten worse on standard chemotherapy and were receiving either Erbitux® (cetuximab) alone or in combination with irinotecan.  CT scans  for about a third of them showed at least a 10 percent decrease in the size of their tumors six weeks into treatment. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on August 4th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: cetuximab, Erbitux, metastatic colorectal cancer, survival

Primary Colorectal Tumors Can Be Safely Left in Place

When cancer has spread beyond the colon or rectum, the primary colorectal tumor can safely be left in place with only rare complications.

Surgeons at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York followed 233 patients who began chemotherapy without surgery to remove their primary colon or rectal tumor. Almost 90 percent never had a problem with their tumor that needed intervention with surgery, radiation, or a stent. Only 7 percent required emergency surgery. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on June 7th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: ASCO 2009, metastatic colorectal cancer, surgery

Almost There: Colon Cancer Clinical Trial Needs Six More Patients

NSABP C-10 needs only six more patients to complete enrollment and prepare to answer the question: Is it safe and effective to leave a primary tumor without symptoms in the colon or rectum and proceed directly to chemotherapy in patients with colon cancer that has spread to distant organs where it cannot be surgically removed,

The trial has already enrolled 84 of the 90 patients with metastatic colon cancer needed.

All patients in the study will be treated with FOLFOX (oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and continuous infusion 5-FU) and Avastin® (bevacizumab) every two weeks for as long as their cancer doesn’t get worse and they are able to tolerate side effects.   Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on May 7th, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: clinical trials, metastatic colorectal cancer, unresectable

Can We Take A Chemoholiday?

In my practice, almost every day patients ask me how long we continue doing chemotherapy?  These are patients with metastatic disease who think that chemotherapy is only given for a very specific time.

I often ask them if they had diabetes or hypertension how long would they expect to take medication for that disease, and there is no hesitation answering that you take it for a long time, if not forever. So I try to explain that we give chemotherapy as long it works and is tolerated. Continue reading…

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on May 1st, 2009
Posted in: From the Desk of Dr. Lenz | 6 Comments »
Tags: chemoholiday, metastatic colorectal cancer, Treating Colorectal Cancer

Hope for Everyone on Easter

I have shared some inspiring stories with you of patients in my practice who I think are examples of how colon cancer therapies have changed. Today when patients walk into my practice with metastases only in liver or lungs, I know that I can cure some of them. The way we look at these patients has completely changed. Continue reading…

Posted by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD on April 16th, 2009
Posted in: From the Desk of Dr. Lenz | 20 Comments »
Tags: gene testing, metastatic colorectal cancer, surgery, Treating Colorectal Cancer