Month: October 2012

A new study suggests that more use of colonoscopy has helped to reduce U.S. rates of colorectal cancer. Colonoscopy looks at the upper and lower colon. It uses an instrument that can remove as well as find cancers. It also can snip out polyps before they turn into cancers. In 2001, Medicare began to pay for people to get a screening colonoscopy every 10 years. Colonoscopies greatly increased after this decision. Surgeries for cancer in the upper colon were steady until 2002. Then they dropped 3.1% a year through 2009. Colonoscopy is the only test that looks at the upper colon from the inside. Surgeries for cancer in the lower colon also fell faster after 1999. In the next decade, they dropped by 3.8% per year. Researchers said the increase in colonoscopies may be one cause. Taking out polyps may have prevented many cancers, especially in the upper colon.

Aspirin may help to treat colon cancer among people who have a particular gene mutation, a new study suggests. The study focused on 964 people with colon cancer. As participants in 2 long-term health studies, they recorded what medicines they took. Researchers looked at the genes in people’s colon cancer tumors. They focused on a gene called PIK3CA. This gene is involved in one pathway that promotes the growth of cancer. Aspirin seems to interfere with this pathway. Researchers found that some people in the study had a mutation in the PIK3CA gene. In the first 5 years after diagnosis, 2 of the 62 regular aspirin users with the mutated gene died. In contrast, 23 of 90 people who had the mutation but did not take aspirin died. Researchers also looked at longer-term survival.

Almost 80 million Americans don’t have low vitamin D levels after all, an expert group says. The new, lower guidelines on vitamin D come from the Institute of Medicine. This is an independent group that provides research-based advice on medical care. Current guidelines don’t agree on what blood level of vitamin D is too low. For example, the Endocrine Society says that people should have at least 30 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood (ng/ml). Anyone with lower levels may need vitamin D pills, the group says. The new Institute of Medicine guidelines say that 20 ng/ml is enough. An estimated 78.7 million American have levels between 20 and 30. The new study included more than 15,000 adults. Information about them came from a major health survey. This was compared with a national death registry.