Cancer Resources

After her husband Jay died of colon cancer, Katie Couric’s decision to become an advocate for colon cancer awareness and prevention lead to a five-part series on the Today Show aired in 2004.

Farrah Fawcett’s well documented battle with rectal cancer has once again brought cancer of the lower digestive system into the news.

Actions of famous people can have a huge impact on the general population. The more we learn about the deadly disease, the more likely it is that we will discuss cancer screening with our doctor.

What is Colon Cancer?
Colon cancer develops inside the large intestine, from tiny growths called polyps. This lower part of you digestive system is also called the colon. Over time some polyps can become cancerous. Rectal cancer is cancer of the last six inches of the colon. Together they are referred to as colorectal cancer. Polyps are not cancerous to start and may never develop into cancer. However, over a period of time the slow growing polyps can turn into a cancerous tumor. Continue reading ‘Cancer Screening That Can Save Your Life’ »

Though many woman dread that yearly mammogram, we’ve all heard often enough that early detection of breast cancer saves lives… finding lumps when they’re too small to feel and before they get a chance to grow and spread gives you the best chance for a cure.

Or does it?

A recent study of mammography screening for breast cancer found that some invasive cancers might spontaneously regress over time, leaving no sign that they were ever present in a woman’s body.

This leaves us to question if breast cancer is over diagnosed, and therefore over treated.

The research, conducted by Norwegian scientists, used 119,472 female subjects aged 50 to 64 years, who underwent three rounds of mammography (one mammogram every two years) from 1996 to 2001 as part of the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program. Continue reading ‘Spontaneous Cancer Remission…’ »

Many of my regular patients can be described as old-time Vermonters—rugged, elderly men who have spent most of their lives outdoors (and because I work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, all of my patients have spent some portion of their life in the military). One of my favorite patients still works, at age 77. It’s hard work, too: drilling water wells. He has an old drilling rig that uses a winch to wind up a metal cable that, in turn, lifts a tremendous weight maybe 25 feet in the air. The entire rig shimmies a little bit under the load. When the weight is released, it drops and smashes into the well casing below. The process is repeated over and over, slowly banging the casing into the ground. Heavy weights, taut metal cables, extreme forces… it’s the kind of thing I like to watch from a distance. Suffice it to say, this man’s primary health concern has not been cancer.

Nevertheless, we have discussed prostate cancer screening. I told him that while we have studies that show some screening tests work, such as mammography for breast cancer and fecal occult blood for colon cancer, we also know that some, like chest X-rays for lung cancer, do not. I added that many tests have never been rigorously studied, including the blood test for prostate cancer, which measures prostate specific antigen (better known as PSA). He had participated in a study in which patients watched a video developed by some of my colleagues that laid out what physicians do and do not know about the PSA test. For him the decision about whether to have the test was easy: he didn’t want it. He even went on to appear in a television documentary on PSA testing, serving as one member of a pair of patients who made opposite decisions about having the test. Continue reading ‘CANCER MISSED BY SCREENING’ »