Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum. Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel movements, weight loss, abdominal pain and fatigue. Most colorectal cancers are due to old age and lifestyle factors, with only a small number of cases due to underlying genetic disorders. Risk factors include diet, obesity, smoking, and lack of physical activity. Dietary factors that increase the risk include red meat, processed meat, and alcohol. Another risk factor is inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Some of the inherited genetic disorders that can cause colorectal cancer include familial adenomatous polyposis and hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer; however, these represent less than 5% of cases. It typically starts as a benign tumor, often in the form of a polyp, which over time becomes cancerous.
Fluorouracil, sold under the brand name Adrucil among others, is a cytotoxic chemotherapy medication used to treat cancer. By intravenous injection it is used for treatment of colorectal cancer, oesophageal cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer. As a cream it is used for actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, and skin warts.
Chandler Park is an American physician, medical journalist, and clinical researcher. In June 2021, his cancer research was published in prominent medical journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of Clinical Oncology. Park also contributes regularly as an expert physician for popular newspapers and magazines such as Newsweek, Reader's Digest, U.S. News & World Report, The Exponent-Telegram, College of St. Scholastica, and Medscape and writes medical news for Doximity.
Bevacizumab, sold under the brand name Avastin among others, is a monoclonal antibody medication used to treat a number of types of cancers and a specific eye disease. For cancer, it is given by slow injection into a vein (intravenous) and used for colon cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, glioblastoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and renal-cell carcinoma. In many of these diseases it is used as a first-line therapy. For age-related macular degeneration it is given by injection into the eye (intravitreal).
Cetuximab, sold under the brand name Erbitux, is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor medication used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. Cetuximab is a chimeric (mouse/human) monoclonal antibody given by intravenous infusion.
Lawrence Einhorn is an American oncologist at Indiana University School of Medicine. A pioneer in cancer treatment research, Einhorn developed cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimens that increased cure rates while minimizing toxic side effects.
Nicholas J. Vogelzang was a medical oncologist with Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada (CCCN). He serves as medical director of the Research Executive Committee and Associate Chair of the Developmental Therapeutics and Genitourinary Committees for US Oncology Research. His research interests include clinical trials for genitourinary malignancies and mesothelioma.
Targeted therapy or molecularly targeted therapy is one of the major modalities of medical treatment (pharmacotherapy) for cancer, others being hormonal therapy and cytotoxic chemotherapy. As a form of molecular medicine, targeted therapy blocks the growth of cancer cells by interfering with specific targeted molecules needed for carcinogenesis and tumor growth, rather than by simply interfering with all rapidly dividing cells. Because most agents for targeted therapy are biopharmaceuticals, the term biologic therapy is sometimes synonymous with targeted therapy when used in the context of cancer therapy. However, the modalities can be combined; antibody-drug conjugates combine biologic and cytotoxic mechanisms into one targeted therapy.
Panitumumab, sold under the brand name Vectibix, is a fully human monoclonal antibody specific to the epidermal growth factor receptor.
Tegafur/uracil is a chemotherapy drug combination used in the treatment of cancer, primarily bowel cancer.
Tigatuzumab (CS-1008) is a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of cancer. As of October 2009, a clinical trial for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, Phase II trials for colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer have been completed.
Tesetaxel is an orally administered taxane being investigated as a chemotherapy agent for various types of cancer, including breast cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, and other solid tumors. It differs from other members of the taxane class in that it is administered orally, not intravenously.
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (ónkos), meaning "tumor", "volume" or "mass". Oncology is concerned with:
William K. Oh, is an American medical oncologist, academic and industry leader and expert in the management of genitourinary malignancies, including prostate, renal, bladder and testicular cancers.
Wolfram Samlowski is an American medical oncologist with Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada (CCCN) and a member of the Research Developmental Therapeutics and Genitourinary Committees for US Oncology. His research interests include translational research and development of novel cancer immunotherapy agents, translational drug development as well as gene therapy. His clinical interests are in developing more effective treatments for advanced stages of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and renal cancer.
Yehuda Patt is a liver cancer specialist, gastrointestinal oncologist, and Professor of Medicine at the University of New Mexico, and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was previously at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston between the years 1975-2003. He is the author of various papers pertaining to cancer and their effects on people, and has been cited numerous times for his writings and analyses.
High-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant (HDC/BMT), also high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplant, was an ineffective treatment regimen for metastatic breast cancer, and later high-risk breast cancer, that was considered promising during the 1980s and 1990s. With an overall idea that more is better, this process involved taking cells from the person's bone marrow to store in a lab, then to give such high doses of chemotherapy drugs that the remaining bone marrow was destroyed, and then to inject the cells taken earlier back into the body as replacement. It was ultimately determined to be no more effective than normal treatment, and to have significantly higher side effects, including treatment-related death.
Thomas E. Hutson is an American medical oncologist and cancer researcher based in Dallas, Texas. He is the director of Genitourinary Oncology Program and co-director of the Urologic Cancer Research and Treatment Center at Baylor University Medical Center. He is a Professor of Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and serves as a chair of Genitourinary Research for US Oncology and McKesson.
Annette Therese Byrne is an Irish physiologist, Professor and Head of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) Precision Cancer Medicine group. Her research considers metastatic colorectal cancer and glioblastoma.
Patrick J. Loehrer is an American oncologist who is Indiana University Distinguished Professor, Joseph W. and Jackie J. Cusick Professor in Oncology, Professor of medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine; Director emeritus, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.
