Rectal Cancer

Staging rectal cancer with MRI

With the advent of powerful gradient coil systems and high-resolution surface coils, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has come into tis own in being able to assess the relationship of a rectal tumor to surrounding organs and tissues. MRI is currently the only imaging modality that is highly accurate in predicting whether or not it is likely that a tumor can be resected without leaving cells behind and, therefore,  provides important information

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Gemzar for colon and rectal cancer

Gemzar( gemcitabine) has been tested for colon and recatl cancer. A 1992 study found that Gemcitabine did not demonstrate activity against advanced colorectal adenocarcinoma. ON teh other hand,a much later study found that Gemcitabine has a modest activity in heavily pre-treated colorectal cancer patients and may be an option in good performance status patients. There are a number of reports and ongoing studies of gemcitabine in combination for

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Posttreatment surveillance after hepatic metastases resection for colorectal cancer

Since the appearance of effective new drugs for colorectal cancer and more aggressive surgical approaches to resecting isolated metastases, many patients who had metastatic cancer are now free of disease for an extended period of time. There are few guidelines on how to follow such patients it is fairly new situation and there are no mature studies. For high risk non-metastatic colon cancer, NCCN guidelines recommend annual CT of chest, abdomen

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FAP and AFAP testing: Genetic colon cancer

A small proportion of colon and rectal cancers arise in individuals who have genetic mutations. Familial Adenomatous Polyposis(FAP) and AFAP are autosomal dominant disorders with 50% risk of inheritance and about 75–80% of individuals with these conditions have an affected parent. Autosomal dominant inheritance means that an offspring of an affected individual has a 50% risk of inheriting the altered APC gene. Adenomas develop in approximately

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