Colon and Rectal Cancers - Highlights

Highlights	Prevention	Radiation Treatment
Introduction	Diagnosis	Follow-up Testing
Causes	Staging	Treatment for Metastasized Colorectal Cancer
Symptoms	Prognosis	Resources
Risk Factors	Surgery	References
Dietary Factors	Medications

Ulcerative Colitis and 5-ASAs

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis, are at risk for colon cancer. Doctors sometimes prescribe 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) drugs to help reduce the inflammation associated with ulcerative colitis. A 2005 study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that patients with ulcerative colitis who took 5-ASAs were half as likely to develop colon cancer as patients who did not use this type of drug.

Fecal Occult Blood Testing (FOBT)

Doctors sometimes recommend that patients stop taking the anticoagulant warfarin (Coumadin) before FOBT because the drug can cause mild gastrointestinal bleeding, which could cause incorrect test results. But, a 2005 study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that warfarin does not affect the accuracy of FOBT.

Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopic surgery may eventually become the gold standard for early stage colon cancer. This surgical technique is a less invasive alternative to standard open surgery, and is now being used for many pelvic and abdominal operations. It is showing excellent results in clinical trials for colon cancer. A major 2004 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that patients who had laparoscopy recovered more quickly than patients who had conventional surgery. They also needed less narcotic pain medication after surgery. Several 2005 studies indicated that laparoscopic surgery may be effective for colon cancer, but not for rectal cancer.

Capecitibine versus Leucovorin

Capecitibine (Xeloda) is currently the only pill approved for the treatment of advanced colon cancer. In 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine published results of an important clinical trial that compared capecitibine to the standard intravenous therapy of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin in patients with stage III colon cancer who had surgery. Capecitibine proved to be as effective as 5-FU/leucovorin and caused significantly fewer side effects.