Colon News and Research

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Completion of therapy by Medicare patients with stage III colon cance

Physical frailty, treatment complications, and lack of social and psychological support may explain why elderly stage III colon cancer patients do not complete a course of chemotherapy after surgery

3 May 2006

Chemotherapy regimen predicts steatohepatitis and an increase in 90-day mortality after surgery for hepatic colorectal metastases

Patients and their physicians should be careful when selecting a chemotherapy drug to treat colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

3 May 2006

Risk of secondary malignancies in testicular cancer

While in the United States the preferred treatment for stage I mixed germ cell tumors has been retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy has been more commonly used in Europe.

2 May 2006

Tumour specific drugs may render therapies based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete

The results of a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis could eventually have oncologists removing their specialties from their shingles by making therapy based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete.

28 Apr 2006

Caspase-12 antagonists could potentially be useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders

According to the new study, the presence of caspase-12, which appears to modulate inflammation and innate immunity in humans, increases the body's "vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic shock" while a deficiency confers strong resistance to sepsis. This new discovery suggests that caspase-12 antagonists could be a potentially useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders.

26 Apr 2006

Cancer found grow by switching off DNA - may lead to new generation treatments

Cancer researchers have formulated a new concept for how cancer cells can escape normal growth controls by turning off DNA. These findings may have far-reaching implications for the new generation of cancer therapies.

25 Apr 2006

Rare abdominal cancer diagnosis being looked at in a different manner

Their experience treating a rare type of abdominal cancer has helped physicians at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center make a new discovery that may change the way it is diagnosed.

24 Apr 2006

New design lets mini-microscope observe cells in vivo

Two eyes are better than one. Or more precisely, two lines of sight are better than one. That's the word from researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine, who have applied this adage to the design of a tiny microscope that is about the size of an M&M.

20 Apr 2006

Researchers find genetic "signature" that accurately identifies colon cancer

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have uncovered a genetic "signature" that accurately identifies colon cancer--a key, they hope, to better understand how the cancer develops.

13 Apr 2006

No evidence that taking estrogen alone increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

The findings come three years after a related WHI study found that a different type of hormone therapy - which combined estrogen and progestin - did result in a higher risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women.

13 Apr 2006

U.S. watchdog says Xenical should be withdrawn

A consumer watchdog group in the U.S., Public Citizen, has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw the prescription diet drug Xenical (orlistat) from the market; the group also want the FDA to refuse approval for the weight-loss pill to be made widely available over the counter.

11 Apr 2006

Research explains why recipients of growth hormone therapy may develop colon polyps

The use of growth hormone therapy has been linked in some people to the development of colon polyps, a possible precursor to colorectal cancer - but medical researchers have debated the extent of a cancer risk.

11 Apr 2006

Scientists identify a new gene that causes the spread of cancer

Professor Philip Rudland, Dr Guozheng Wang and Dr Roger Barraclough from Liverpool University's Cancer and Polio Research Fund Laboratories have discovered an additional member of the S100 family of protein genes - S100P - that causes the spread of cancerous cells from an original tumour to other parts of the body.

11 Apr 2006

Alcohol use, tobacco use and male gender associated with an earlier onset of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths, according to background information in the article. Screening asymptomatic patients is an important strategy for reducing these deaths, because by the time patients experience symptoms, the cancer may have progressed beyond the point where it can be cured.

11 Apr 2006

Colorimetric screening detects DNA, small molecules and proteins

Using the unusual color properties of gold at the nanoscale, scientists at Northwestern University have developed a "litmus test" for DNA and small molecule binding that eventually could be used by pharmaceutical companies to rapidly identify promising candidates for new anti-cancer drugs.

11 Apr 2006