Word: colonizes
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Most doctors classify colorectal cancers according to a scale developed by an English pathologist named Cuthbert Dukes in the 1930s. The Dukes scale uses the letter A to describe a malignant tumor that is confined to the colon's inner lining, B to characterize one that has spread beyond the inner lining but has not reached the lymph nodes, and C for one that has pierced the outer wall or begun to spread to the lymph nodes. Doctors also use these classifications to estimate patients' chances of survival. Patients with Dukes A tumors have a 90% chance of surviving five...
Ever since they learned that the polyp removed from President Reagan's colon during a 3-hr, operation was a startling 2 in. across, most doctors following his case had been predicting the outcome of the pathologists' tests. So they were prepared last week for Dr. Steven Rosenberg's dramatic announcement that "the President has cancer." But ordinary citizens may have been confused when, with the dread words still hanging in the air, Rosenberg went on to say that the malignancy had been removed and that no further treatment seemed necessary. Indeed, under the circumstances, it might have been more...
Pathologists examining the polyp had discovered that it was cancerous and that the malignancy had grown through the connective tissue under the colon's inner lining into the layer of muscle that helps the colon contract. Yet their tests suggested that none of the malignant cells had spread beyond the intestine. Thus it was likely, though not certain, that in removing the 2-ft. section of Reagan's colon that contained the polyp, the surgical team had freed the President of cancer...
...also encouraging, he said, that physicians had found no evidence that the President's cancer had spread beyond the section of the bowel removed during surgery. It was particularly significant that no malignant cells were found in the 15 lymph nodes in the excised section of the colon. These bean-shape structures act to screen the lymph, a watery fluid drained from between the body's cells, for bacteria and abnormal cellular matter. The absence of cancer cells in the nodes suggests that any cells that may have been shed from Reagan's tumor had not reached the bloodstream...
Reagan's doctors acknowledged that some cancer cells may have spread from the President's colon and could seed new tumors. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to prevent them from seeding. Radiotherapy, or X-ray treatment, which sometimes works well to prevent recurrences of breast or lung cancers, has not generally proved effective against recurring cancers of the colon. And chemotherapy, or drug treatment, which works well against leukemia and cancers of the lymphatic system, will not help. "Currently available information is that chemotherapy does not improve survival" for colorectal cancer patients, Rosenberg said...