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 »

Patients whose tumors shrink in response to radiation therapy before surgery for rectal cancer have both improved overall survival and improved disease-free survival.  However, even patients who responded to presurgical radiation did not reach survival rates for stage I rectal cancer patients treated with surgery alone. Read the rest of this entry »

Focus on Clinical Trials

Can adding Avastin® (bevacizumab) to FOLFOX therapy after surgery and presurgical chemoradiotherapy reduce recurrence and improve survival for patients with rectal cancer?

A clinical trial to answer this question is underway and is looking for participants.  Led by a team of researchers from several clinical trials cooperative groups, the E5204 study randomly assigns patients who have already completed a course of chemoradiotherapy and had their rectal cancer removed surgically to either FOLFOX or FOLFOX plus Avastin. Read the rest of this entry »

Update from the 2009 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium

Incidence of rectal cancer in younger patients is increasing, although there is no similar pattern with colon cancer or in older rectal cancer patients.  The reason for the trend is unclear.

First observed in a single cancer center, the trend toward more rectal cancer in patients under forty was confirmed in review of the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. Read the rest of this entry »

When physicians exam the rectum with a gloved finger, they are unlikely to find a real tumor and more likely to refer patients unnecessarily for further tests.  Digital rectal exams are a poor way to accurately identify rectal cancer according to a recently published study from the United Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »