Cancercompass News: colorectal cancer
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12/25/2008 Researchers Map New Path To Colon Cancer Therapy University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have identified a promising new target in the battle against colorectal cancer a biochemical pathway critical to the spread of tumors to new locations in the body. If this "survival pathway" can be successfully blocked under clinical conditions, the result would be a much-needed new therapy for colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The researchers' findings, published online the week of December 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focus on an enzyme known as Akt2, which is often also found at high levels in association with prostate, ovarian, breast and pancreatic cancers. Drawing on data from human colorecta... Read more at this website... 12/25/2008 Smoking Associated With Increased Risk For Colorectal Cancer And Death An analysis of previous studies indicates that smoking is significantly associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer and death, according to an article in the December 17 issue of JAMA. Although tobacco was responsible for approximately 5.4 million deaths in 2005, there are still an estimated 1.3 billion smokers in the world. While a number of cancers are attributable to smoking, the link between cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer (CRC) has been inconsistent among studies. "Because smoking can potentially be controlled by individual and population-related measures, detecting a link between CRC and smoking could help reduce the burden of the world's third most common tumor, which currently causes more than 500,000 annual d... Read more at this website... 12/22/2008 Colonoscopies: Not Perfect, Still Essential Cancer of the colon should be one of the easiest tumors to prevent. Just submit yourself to a colonoscopy and the odds are good that a vigilant doctor will find and eliminate any suspicious growth that might become lethal. Now a study in Canada has come up with evidence that colonoscopies may be less reliable than previously thought. What is a patient to do? In a colonoscopy, a doctor inserts a long tube with a camera through the rectum and up to the top of the colon, then withdraws it slowly while looking for precancerous polyps or malignant tumors on the colon walls. If a polyp is there, the doctor snips it out and the danger is likely gone. Some doctors estimate that colonoscopy reduces the risk of dying from co... Read more at this website... 12/18/2008 Protein Levels Indicate Risk Of Death In Some Colorectal Cancer Patients BOSTON--A pair of proteins may help explain why people with surgically removed colorectal cancer and who are overweight, physically inactive, and follow a Western-pattern diet may have an increased risk of dying of the disease or other causes, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report in a new study. The researchers found that in people who have undergone surgery for colorectal cancer, the levels of two insulin-related proteins in their blood before diagnosis predicted their chances of dying from the cancer or other conditions. Patients with high prediagnosis levels of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) were more than half as likely to succumb to the disease; while those with high levels of C-peptide were nearly... Read more at this website... 12/15/2008 ASGE Urges Patients To Seek A Qualified Endoscopist Before Undergoing A Colonoscopy For Colorectal Cancer OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Canadian study finds that colonoscopy is associated with lower death rates, but raises concerns about detection of colorectal cancer on the right side of the colon A study released today in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that colonoscopy is associated with lower death rates from colorectal cancer, however, the procedure missed lesions more often on the right side of the colon versus the left side. The study highlights the importance of seeking a qualified gastrointestinal endoscopist to perform a thorough colonoscopy and that patients must take the bowel prep as directed by their physician allowing for a clear view of the colon to detect lesions. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endosc... Read more at this website... 12/11/2008 Aspirin Said No Protection Against Colorectal Cancer Aspirin doesn't protect a certain group of people at high risk of suffering colorectal cancer, a Creighton University researcher and others have found. Dr. Henry Lynch, director of Creighton's Hereditary Cancer Center, said aspirin appears to work for some in the general population as preventive medicine against colorectal cancer. But for those with Lynch syndrome, which is named after Creighton's Lynch, aspirin doesn't accomplish that purpose, according to a study published Thursday in "The New England Journal of Medicine." Lynch was one of numerous researchers involved in the study. Lynch syndrome is a gene mutation that increases one's risk of colorectal cancer and some other cancers. Lynch said about 3 to 5 percent of colorecta... Read more at this website... 12/08/2008 Quidel's QuickVue iFOb Test Results Show High Correlation With Quantitative Laboratory Assay For Fecal Occult Blood Using Stools From Patients With Post-Colonoscopy Based Clinical Diagnosis SAN DIEGO -- Quidel Corporation, a leading provider of rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tests, presented data from a correlation study for its QuickVue iFOB (immunochemical Fecal Occult Blood) test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. The results demonstrated a high correlation between Quidel's POC immunochemistry test and a quantitative laboratory test for fecal occult blood. The study, entitled "A New Method for Quantification of FOB Levels," was introduced at the Colorectal Congress in St. Gallen, Switzerland on December 4th. Two hundred stool specimens obtained from patients averaging 40 days post colonoscopy were examined in a quantitative test employing surface plasmon resonance, which measures the binding o... Read more at this website... |
