Gov?er?nor Susana Mar?tinez declared March Col?orec?tal Can?cer Aware?ness Month in New Mex?ico, call?ing the dis?ease one of the most ?pre?ventable, treat?able and beat?able? forms of can?cer if caught early. Uni?ver?sity of New Mex?ico Can?cer Cen?ter experts join the gov?er?nor and state health offi?cials in urg?ing New Mex?i?cans to get screened for col?orec?tal can?cer, the sec?ond lead?ing cause of can?cer death in the?state.
Around 800 New Mex?i?cans receive a diag?no?sis of col?orec?tal can?cer each year, and another 300 die of the dis?ease, accord?ing to data from the New Mex?ico Tumor Reg?istry. The dis?ease affects both women and men. Though decreas?ing slightly among non-Hispanic whites, col?orec?tal can?cer cases in New Mex?ico are on the rise among His?pan?ics and Native Amer?i?cans. Of even greater con?cern, deaths from the dis?ease are increas?ing among Native Amer?i?can?men.
Yet, experts empha?size, there is plenty of good news. ?This is one of the only can?cers that we can actu?ally pre?vent through screen?ing,? said Ash?wani Rajput, chief of sur?gi?cal oncol?ogy at the UNM Can?cer Cen?ter and an expert in gas?troin?testi?nal can?cers. ?Col?orec?tal can?cer almost always starts with a small growth called a polyp. Screen?ing pro?ce?dures like colono?scopies allow us to find and remove polyps, stop?ping col?orec?tal can?cer before it starts.?
Colonoscopy, which exam?ines the inside of the intes?tine with a camera-tipped tube, is the most com?mon col?orec?tal can?cer screen?ing method in the United States. Other types of screen?ing tests that can detect polyps include dou?ble con?trast bar?ium enema, flex?i?ble sig?moi?doscopy and CT colonog?ra?phy, or vir?tual colonoscopy. Not every polyp will develop into can?cer, but vir?tu?ally all col?orec?tal can?cers start out as polyps.
A new study released last month in the New Eng?land Jour?nal of Med?i?cine pro?vides the best evi?dence yet that colono?scopies save lives. The study found a 53 per?cent reduc?tion in col?orec?tal can?cer deaths among patients who had colono?scopies and whose doc?tors had removed pre?can?cer?ous polyps, as com?pared to death rates in the gen?eral pop?u?la?tion. Approx?i?mately 2,600 patients were tracked, some for as many as 23 years. A pre?vi?ous phase of the study had shown that colono?scopies sig?nif?i?cantly reduce the inci?dence of the dis?ease; the new phase strongly under?scores the test?s role in actu?ally pre?vent?ing col?orec?tal can?cer deaths.
When col?orec?tal can?cer is found and treated early, while it is small and before it has spread, the five-year sur?vival rate is about 90 per?cent, accord?ing to the Amer?i?can Can?cer Soci?ety, which rec?om?mends screen?ing for all men and women over age 50. African Amer?i?cans, hit the hard?est by this can?cer of any racial group in the U.S., are urged to begin screen?ing at age 45. Those with fam?ily his?to?ries of colon or rec?tal can?cer should also dis?cuss ear?lier screen?ing with their doc?tors. ?Every?one over age 50 should be screened for the dis?ease,? Rajput said. Colonoscopy is gen?er?ally rec?om?mended every 10 years, though peo?ple at higher risk may ben?e?fit from more fre?quent screening.
Despite the power of col?orec?tal can?cer screen?ing to save lives, many New Mex?i?cans are not get?ting tested. It is esti?mated that only 60 per?cent of New Mex?i?cans over 50 are cur?rent with their col?orec?tal can?cer screen?ing. Inad?e?quate screen?ing is one rea?son why only one third of col?orec?tal cases in New Mex?ico are diag?nosed at an early stage, accord?ing to data from the New Mex?ico Tumor Reg?istry. ?Some peo?ple are intim?i?dated by the screen?ing pro?ce?dure,? Rajput said. ?In fact, it is easy and pain?less, and it could save your life. Other peo?ple think they aren?t at risk for the dis?ease. There are lots of myths sur?round?ing col?orec?tal can?cer. The UNM Can?cer Cen?ter urges every?one to edu?cate them?selves about the dis?ease, espe?cially by talk?ing with their doctor.?
Media Con?tacts:
Dorothy Horn?beck, JKPR, (505) 797?6673, dhornbeck@jameskorenchen.com
Audrey Man?ring, UNM Can?cer Cen?ter, (505) 925?0486, amanring@salud.unm.edu
Source: http://news.unm.edu/2012/03/march-declared-colorectal-cancer-awareness-month/
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