Are you finished with surgery or chemotherapy for early stage colon cancer?

Would you like a chance to see if a new experimental treatment can reduce your risk of

• A new polyp in your colon?
• Colon cancer spreading beyond your colon?
• A new colon cancer?

Researchers at the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) would like to talk to you about a clinical trial exploring whether a statin drug can reduce the risk of new polyps, colon cancer recurrence, or a new primary colon cancer.

In the P-5 clinical trial stage I and II colon cancer patients will be randomly assigned to take either rosuvastatin (Crestor®) or an inert placebo for five years. Read the rest of this entry »

Pam McAllister attended the 2010 GI Cancers Symposium in Orlando on a C3 scholarship.

Pam is one of the original colorectal cancer research advocates and has been involved with research advocacy activities for well over a decade. She serves on numerous research panels and has co-authored many articles including the 2008 American Cancer Society Screening Guidelines and the ASCO Clinical Opinion on Testing for KRAS Mutations.

Here is the first of three articles she has written for C3’s Research  and Treatment News about what she learned at the Orlando meeting.

Last year we learned that Avastin® (bevacizumab) was not effective in increasing disease free survival in stage III colon cancer except for a possible small transient benefit that disappeared soon after the drug was discontinued. Read the rest of this entry »

Briefly

• Hormone replacement therapy reduces risk of colon cancer.
• Smoking before age 30 increases chances that colon cancer will recur.
• Low CEA levels improve both survival and disease-free survival for stage II colon cancer.
• Most patients want videos of their colonoscopies and are willing to pay for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Patients with very early stage colon cancer benefit as much from regular followup testing after surgery as later stage patients do.

While overall patients with stage I or IIA colon cancer (early stage) have a lower risk of cancer returning than patients with stage IIB or III (later stage), careful surveillance after surgery is as effective in finding and treating cancer in both groups.

About one in three patients in both the early and late stage who had a recurrence detected during surveillance were able to have surgery with the goal of curing their cancer.   Read the rest of this entry »

Patients always ask what they can do. Well, there is a lot they can do to reduce the risk for tumor recurring after successful surgeries.

Recent studies have clearly shown that diet is directly associated with the risk of tumor recurrence. People who eat primarily a Western diet are significantly at higher risk than those patients whose diet has less red meat, processed sugar, desserts, and French fries. You can change your diet and reduce your risk of tumor recurrence. Read the rest of this entry »