Word: treatments
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...some background. Colon cancer is highly curable when caught in the earliest stages. However, most relapses, when they occur, show up within five years of the initial treatment and are usually fatal. Perhaps 5% of metastasizing tumors are small enough to give patients a reasonable chance for complete cure. So there's a premium on finding and treating them early...
According to the new guidelines, the most effective follow-up procedures are colonoscopy (in which a physician uses a flexible tube to look at the inside of your bowel) and regular visits with a physician (who can coordinate your postsurgical treatment, answer questions and investigate new symptoms). Benson and his colleagues concluded that patients should undergo a colonoscopy three years after the one that was done at the time of surgery, provided that all cancers and polyps were removed. Why not sooner? Repeat colonoscopies are most useful for finding a new tumor unrelated to the old one. Most recurring colon...
...which detects as many as 80% of colon-cancer recurrences, measures the amount of carcinoembryonic antigen, a protein found in the blood that is often produced by tumor cells. Regular proctosigmoidoscopy, which looks directly at the rectum, is recommended for patients with rectal cancer who have not undergone standard treatment with radiation...
...verdict reflects a growing understanding that breast cancer doesn't always require the most severe treatment. A study released in 1996 showed that for small tumors that haven't spread, removal of the tumor and some surrounding tissue (a lumpectomy) followed by radiation is just as effective as taking off the entire breast. Thanks to women's increasing vigilance, some 85% of the 175,000 cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year are found early enough to avoid radical surgery...
...exposure could not make up for the fact that she had lost a breast. "All was good on the surface," she says, "but that didn't mean I didn't have difficulty walking down the street." Beyond that, active involvement with oncologists and advocacy groups was educating Motichka about treatment options, and she began to wonder if her disfigurement was a mistake. She went back to Dr. Cody, who insisted that based on the kind of cancer she had, she had never been a good candidate for a lumpectomy...