A computerized reminder system used in community-based primary care doctors’ offices increased colorectal cancer screening rates by an average of 9 percent, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System.

Colorectal adenomas, the precursor polyps in virtually all colorectal cancers, occur infrequently in younger adults, but the rate sharply increases after age 50. Additionally, African Americans have a higher rate of proximal, or right-sided, polyps, and may have a worse prognosis for survival if the polyps become cancerous.

In the largest multi-institutional study to date examining the impact of positron emission tomography (PET) in changing disease management of individuals with suspected recurrent colorectal cancer, researchers found that treatment plans were changed for more than half of patients, according to an article in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Although colorectal cancer screening tests are proven to reduce colorectal cancer mortality, only about half of U.S. men and women 50 and older receive the recommended tests, according to a report in the July 2008 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

A compound that accumulates in cells more readily than a commonly used colorectal cancer drug may be just as useful in treating colorectal tumors, but with fewer side effects, MIT researchers have found.

A new study indicates that African Americans with a family history of colorectal cancer are less likely to be screened than African Americans at average risk for the disease. There is also some evidence to indicate that AA with a family history are less likely to be screened than their white counterparts. The study is published in the July 15, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Among patients with advanced colon cancer receiving treatment that includes chemotherapy, a family history of colorectal cancer is associated with a significant reduction in cancer recurrence and death, with the risk reduced further by having an increasing number of affected first-degree relatives, according to a study in the June 4 issue of JAMA.

A combination of the targeted agent difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) at a low dose and sulindac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), reduces the risk of recurrent colorectal adenomas, an early sign of colon cancer, by up to 95 percent with less toxicity than with chemotherapy, researchers report.

Patient interventions are necessary to achieve higher rates of colorectal cancer screening in low-income and minority patients, according to two studies in the current issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

Historically anaemia, which is associated with colorectal cancer, has been attributed to blood loss. Previous studies have elegantly shown that the anti-microbial peptide hepcidin can also induce anaemia as a consequence of infection and or inflammation.

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers published a study in the March 7th issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics identifying the hereditary components of colorectal cancer (CRC.)

The American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology, and the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer (a group that comprises representatives from the American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastroenterological Association, and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy) have released the first-ever joint consensus guidelines for colorectal cancer screening.