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. Read the rest of this entry »

Treated with a combination of three chemotherapy drugs, 1 in 5 patients whose colorectal cancer had spread too far for surgery were able to have operations to remove metastatic tumors.  After five years, a third of them were alive with no sign of cancer.

Doctors in Italy treated 200 stage IV patients with a combination of 5-FU, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan (FOLFOXIRI) during three different clinical trials.  While all three drugs are commonly used to treat colorectal cancer, they are not usually used at the same time.  Initially, all of the patients had cancer that had spread beyond the possibility of having it removed surgically. Read the rest of this entry »

While some surgical studies are now reporting five-year survival after surgery to remove colorectal cancer tumors that have spread to the liver of 40 to 60 percent, a review of more general national experience for patients enrolled in Medicare  in the United States found lower survival rates.

Among Medicare-enrolled colorectal cancer patients 65 and over who had liver resection, only 26 percent (1 in 4) were alive five years later. Read the rest of this entry »

Update from the 2009 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium

Combining chemotherapy with Erbitux® (cetuximab) can effectively shrink tumors and enable surgeons to remove formerly unresectable colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver, offering potentially curative treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

When we go to a surgeon, we often don’t ask them how many surgery he has done for the same disease but may be we should.

For colon cancer, there is in fact a specialization fellowship to become a colorectal surgeon. A recent analysis of 17 studies from nine countries has shown that the quality of the surgeon and the surgery is associated with better outcome.

How can you evaluate the surgeon? Read the rest of this entry »