Scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) BioMicroMechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center and the MGH Cancer Center have developed a new microchip-based device that can isolate circulating tumor cells (CTC) in a blood sample. The new CTC-chip is a business-card sized silicon chip covered with almost 80,000 microscopic posts smaller than a human hair. The [...]

Research conducted by the University of Minnesota shows women with diabetes are 50 percent more likely to develop colorectal cancer than non-diabetic women. To perform their study, the team analyzed data on over 45,000 women who participated in a large-scale breast cancer study conducted at 29 medical facilities during the 1970s. The records indicated females [...]

Results of a Swedish study published in the November 2007 issue of The Lancet Oncology show children of parents who survived certain cancers are more likely to survive the disease if it strikes them too. To arrive at their conclusion, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Söder Hospital, studied data on over three million [...]

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison is reporting results of a study showing virtual colonoscopies are just as effective as traditional colonoscopies at detecting potentially cancerous growths. CT Colonography (commonly referred to as virtual colonoscopy, VC, or CTC) uses CT imaging and computers to create a 3D view of [...]

Scientists from the University of Chieti in Italy have found that a gene which normally functions in the placenta during the early stages of pregnancy is also expressed in most human cancers. Professor Saverio Alberti and his team discovered that the Trop-2 gene was involved in the formation of invasive cells needed during the stage [...]

Thanks to earlier detection and better treatments, millions of people can now call themselves cancer survivors. But once the strict regimen of blood tests, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery is over and the patient leaves the cancer center, what do they need to do to keep that precious title? The stark reality is that many survivors [...]

Most forms of colorectal cancer can be prevented or successfully treated if caught early enough. Unfortunately, the disease is usually asymptomatic until it reaches the advanced stages so many people aren’t diagnosed until it is too late. Colonoscopies can detect pre-cancerous polyps or small cancerous tumors early but, many patients avoid getting the procedure because [...]

According to the Minnesota Cancer Surveillance System, American Indians face a 60 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer and are significantly more likely to die of the disease than their non-Indian counterparts. And while colorectal cancer rates have been falling in other populations, rates among American Indians have continued to rise. Tribal leaders and medical [...]

Researchers at the University of South Carolina have received a five-year, $10.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue studying colon cancer. The sizable grant will be used to fund comprehensive studies focused on finding causes, prevention methods, and effective treatments for colorectal cancer at the university’s Center for Colon Cancer Research [...]

Anesthesiologists at Paris’ St-Antoine University Hospital have found they can reduce a patient’s pain and recovery time after colorectal surgery by infusing local anesthesia directly into the surgical site for the first 48 hours following the procedure. To test the method’s effectiveness, researchers randomized patients receiving colorectal cancer resections at three hospitals. Multi-holed catheters put [...]