Most of us associate colon cancer and rectal cancer with older adults. That’s why results of a recent study by the American Cancer Society that found that the rate of new cases of colon and rectal cancer are increasing at a rapid rate among young and middle-aged adults in the U.S., is eye opening, says Richard Greenberg, MD, Division Chair of Colorectal Surgery for Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia.  Based on the study, once age is taken into account, people born in 1990 have twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of rectal cancer compared to people born around 1950.  The study was published February 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in women. In 2017, there will be 95,520 new cases of colon cancer and 39,910 new cases of rectal cancer.  Both cancers will result in an estimated 50,260 deaths.  The risk for colon and rectal cancer has been increasing for every generation, with the highest increases among people in their 20s.

Dr. Greenberg weighs in about this study and offers information on how people of all ages can be proactive about their health and help prevent these diseases.

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In men with prostate cancer who have had the prostate surgically removed, about a third of the time the cancer doesn’t completely go away or it comes back. In those patients, radiation therapy appears to improve long-term freedom from recurrence, but now comes strong evidence that treatment with antiandrogen drugs, or male hormone blockers—in addition to radiation—improves the rate of survival significantly, and greatly reduces the likelihood that the cancer will spread to other parts of the body.

These findings were published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Kenneth Zeitzer, MD, (right) of Einstein’s Department of Radiation Oncology, was a co-author of the study.

The study followed 760 men over 12 years who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and had their prostate removed, only to have the disease persist, as shown by increasing blood levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. PSA is a standard test for prostate cancer.

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Claudia Dourado, MD, is a medical oncologist and hematologist, board certified in internal medicine, hematology and oncology, and here's how she sums up her practice: 

"My work is important because being diagnosed with cancer is probably one of the hardest things that's going to happen to somebody's life."

Watch this video to learn more. 

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Lung cancer is the third most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. The biggest risk factor for the disease is smoking, which causes 85 percent of lung cancer cases.

When found early, lung cancer is treatable. But symptoms don’t usually appear until the cancer is advanced. Screening tests are available that can help detect the presence of lung cancer, but many people don’t know if and when they should be screened.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society recommend that adults between the ages of 55 and 74 who have at least a 30 pack-year smoking history (equal to smoking a pack a day for 30 years or 2 packs a day for 15 years) and currently smoke or who have quit in the past 15 years get an annual low-dose chest CT scan. The National Lung Screening Trial found that people who got a low-dose CT scan had a 20 percent lower chance of dying from lung cancer than those who got chest x-rays.

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Sheila Adkins was halfway through her devastating chemotherapy treatment—unable to eat, walk, work, consumed by exhaustion, weakness and pain—when, one day, she looked at her oncologist and said: “Someday, doc, you and I are going to dance.”

It may have been false bravado, a desperate expression of hope, because the promise was unlikely to be kept: Sheila had stage 4 stomach cancer that had already spread to her liver, and the powerful treatment had rendered her an invalid. But here she was a year and a half later, back to work, making the keynote speech at a recent Cancer Survivor’s Day Celebration sponsored by Einstein Medical Center Montgomery.

William Biermann, MD, her physician, was in the audience of survivors, their families and friends, and the nurses and other physicians from Einstein Montgomery who brought them back to health. The fact that Adkins could walk to the podium at all showed just how far she’d come.

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If you’re under 50, you probably haven’t given much thought to your risk of developing colorectal cancer. The focus of colorectal cancer screening and treatment has been, up to now, on older Americans over age 50. It’s been paying off. The overall rate of colorectal cancer in older Americans has decreased during the past decades.

But in younger Americans, research shows a steady increase in colorectal cancer cases. In fact, one in seven colorectal cancers is now diagnosed in people under 50, and these rates are expected to keep rising.

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March is Colon Cancer Awareness month. It's a great time to check in with your doctor about your digestive health. Here are some eye-opening facts that everyone should know about colon cancer:

 

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Walk or run for a little over three miles. Gain the satisfaction of knowing you are helping to promote early detection of lung cancer—the main cause of cancer death in the United States, and the second most common cancer in the nation. (And get a nifty T-shirt, too.)

Join Team Einstein Sunday, November 1, at the 10^th Annual Philadelphia Free to Breathe 5K Run/Walk, which steps off from Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park. The event starts at 8 a.m., and is sponsored by Einstein Healthcare Network. Free to Breathe is “a partnership of lung cancer survivors, advocates, researchers, healthcare professionals and industry leaders.”

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Q: How long have you worked at Einstein?

A: 20 years.

Q: What does “More than Medicine” mean to you?

A: It means the science of medicine combined with the compassion of medicine and the education of medical students and residents all combined into one.

Q: What gets you excited about coming to work at Einstein?

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Bernadette and Friends

Bernadette Rahatt usually procrastinated about making appointments for medical tests, but when her primary care doctor advised her to undergo preventative screening for lung cancer, she promptly followed up. Rahatt, 64, a longtime smoker who had quit in 2010 following a stroke, scheduled a free screening at Einstein.

It was a good thing she did. Even though Rahatt looked and felt fine, a low-dose CT scan—a form of X-ray imaging that provides detailed cross-section pictures of the body—strongly suggested that she had lung cancer, albeit in its early stages.

Happily, early detection made all the difference in the world for Bernadette, leading to life-saving surgery at Einstein—and Rahatt could not be more thankful.

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