Have you been diagnosed with stage II colon cancer?

We need a few more men to complete a 30 minute survey to help inform a study focused on patients like you.

If you were diagnosed with stage II colon cancer any time since 2010, researchers from the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Pittsburgh would like to talk with you.

These researchers have asked Fight Colorectal Cancer for assistance in finding colon cancer survivors who can help them design a survey for use in a study about how stage II colon cancer patients make decisions about treatment.

Participation would involve:

• Scheduling a one-time, 30-minute phone call with the researchers on a day and time that is convenient for you.
• Answering questions about a draft survey that the researchers intend to use in a large study of stage II colon cancer survivors focused on decision making about treatment (specifically, chemotherapy).
• Giving the researchers your opinion on the best questions to ask in the survey so that it does a good job of capturing survivors’ experiences.

If you are interested in participating or want to learn more, call the Fight Colorectal Cancer Answer Line at:
1-877-427-2111. You may also email an Answer Line Associate.

Thank you!

While there weren’t new blockbuster announcements for colorectal cancer this year at the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Annual Meeting, there was plenty of focus on making what we already have work better and on choosing the patients who will benefit the most from treatments, as well as those who might not be helped at all. (Note, many of these issues will be discussed in detail on our upcoming patient webinar.)

Highlights:

• While adding oxaliplatin to 5-FU improves five year survival slightly for stage II colon cancer, it increases side effects, particularly tingling and numbness in the feet.  An analysis of several NSABP trials found that two or three more stage II patients out of every 100 would be alive five years later if they were given oxaliplatin in addition to 5-FU than if they only got 5-FU.  Risk of cancer returning was similar with an absolute improvement of 3 to 5 percent, depending on risk factors.  Doctors and patients need to think about whether the small benefit is worth the risk of neuropathy that may become permanent.
• Two speakers at the Saturday colorectal cancer oral abstract session addressed adding oxaliplatin to 5-FU as part of pre-surgical chemoradiation treatment for rectal cancer.  NSABP R-04 found that oxaliplatin did not help increase complete response rates, avoid colostomies, or downstage cancers. It did increase diarrhea significantly. On the other hand, early results from a German trial did find an increase in complete responses with oxaliplatin, and they didn’t see worse side effects.
• In the PRIME phase III clinical trial, patients receiving their first treatment for advanced colorectal cancer who had normal or wild-type KRAS genes in their tumor did better when Vectibix® (panitumumab) was added to FOLFOX chemotherapy.  But those patients whose tumor KRAS was mutated actually did worse than patients who only got chemotherapy.
• Side effects, while difficult for patients, may predict better outcomes from treatment.  Patients who got capecitabine as part of pre-surgical chemoradiation and developed hand-foot syndrome had fewer recurrences three years later and better survival at five years.  In another study of breast, lung, and colorectal cancer, patients who got high blood pressure while on Avastin® (bevacizumab) lived longer and it took longer before their cancer got worse.

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A paper presented at the recent 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium conference reported important evidence that, for colorectal cancer patients getting chemotherapy after surgery, the sooner the better.

For people diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, stage II rectal cancer, or stage II colon cancer showing certain high-risk features, researchers found that each four-week delay in starting chemotherapy after surgery was associated with a 12% lower rate of survival five years later.

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Dr. Edith Mitchell

Last night, Dr. Edith Mitchell of Thomas Jefferson University Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA, updated colorectal cancer patients on the latest research and treatment news in an online webinar.

Dr. Mitchell highlighted the most important news for colon and rectal cancer patients to come from the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium held in San Francisco last month. She answer such questions as…

“Can doctors determine the chances that my cancer may return?”

“Can my doctors determine if I need chemotherapy?”

“Does Avastin or Erbitux benefit my stage III cancer treatment?”

“Are there any promising new treatments on the horizon?”

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Most patients with stage II colon cancer will be fine after surgery, with little risk that their cancer will come back.

But one in five will have cancer spread beyond their colon.

Better information about which patients will relapse could spare many from the risks of chemotherapy.

A new gene test announced at the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium in San Francisco helps provide answers to which patients are at highest risk and could help patients and their doctors make better decisions about follow-up chemotherapy after surgery.

ColoPrint, an 18 gene tumor tissue signature, found that three out of four patients with stage II colon cancer had only about a 5 percent risk of recurrence, very similar to stage I patients.  For the remaining high risk patients, one in five (20 percent) had cancer return.

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