(Press-News.org) In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, physician-scientists at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine found that a new non-invasive technology for colon cancer screening is a promising alternative to colonoscopy for African Americans. The study recruited patients to compare the effectiveness of stool DNA (sDNA) testing with colonoscopy for detecting large colon polyps.
SDNA is a test that detects colon cancer in its earliest stages, based on analysis of stool DNA. Developed in the laboratory of Sanford Markowitz, MD, PhD, oncologist with UH Seidman Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, sDNA is a recommended screening by the American Cancer Society.
"Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States but is a preventable disease," said Gregory Cooper, MD, Co-Program Leader for Cancer Prevention, UH Seidman Cancer Center and Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. "Early detection through screening can prevent the development of colon cancer. This promising new test has the potential to improve colon cancer screening rates and decrease mortality from this deadly disease."
In the study presented at Digestive Disease Week, Dr. Cooper and colleagues studied data from 460 subjects for sDNA and 476 subjects using another non-invasive test called fecal immunochemical testing (FIT). A little more than a third of the subjects were African American.
According to the results, sDNA sensitivity and specificity of advanced lesions and all adenomas (polyps) in African Americans was similar to or exceeded that of other racial groups, and in some respects, more sensitive than FIT, the other non-invasive screening.
"Given the known racial disparities in colonoscopies between African Americans and other racial groups, this noninvasive technology may offer a promising screening alternative," said Dr. Cooper.
Colonoscopy is considered the gold standard for screening because of its ability to not only locate but remove precancerous polyps. All adults over age 50 should undergo colonoscopy, with certain risk factors for screening at an earlier age. However, according to research conducted by Dr. Cooper, many adults do not follow these national guidelines and evidence indicates that African Americans are less likely than whites to get screening tests for colorectal cancer.
Although all men and women are at risk for colon cancer, some people are at higher risk for the disease because of age, lifestyle or personal and family medical history. According to studies, African Americans are at a higher risk for the disease than other populations. Starting at age 50, everyone should begin routine screening tests. Research shows that African Americans are being diagnosed at a younger average age than other people. Therefore, some experts suggest that African-Americans should begin their screening at age 45.
"Colonoscopy is truly the best test but it has its limitations and is vastly underused by the public," says Dr. Cooper, who is clinical Primary Investigator for the study. "SDNA is emerging as a promising alternative for patients who do not want to undergo colonoscopy or do not have access to the procedure. It also can be beneficial for patients during the years in between colonoscopies."
Dr. Markowitz, who is an alumnus investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and his team played an intimate role in developing the new technology for DNA screening for colon cancer. They discovered a specific DNA change, methylation of the vimentin gene, which takes place in colon cancers, and then developed techniques for sensitively detecting this change in DNA shed from colon cancers in the stool. Their technology has been licensed by EXACT Sciences Corporation for commercial development and expanded to include a larger panel of genes.
The study is funded as part of the National Cancer Institute's Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers award to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The $11.3 million SPORE grant focuses on translational research aimed at reducing the incidence and deaths from colon cancers and from cancers of the esophagus.
"Among our guiding principles is to pursue and implement breakthrough medical advancements and practices to deliver superior clinical outcomes for our patients," said Stanton Gerson, MD, Director, UH Seidman Cancer Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University. "Non-invasive sDNA screening is an exciting example of this principle in action and potentially can have a dramatic impact on increasing screening rates and decreasing mortality."
INFORMATION:
For more information about the study, contact the UH Seidman Cancer Center at 1-800-641-2422. To view a video about sDNA, go to: http://www.UHhospitals.org/newsroom
About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio with 25,000 employees, serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 15 hospitals, 29 outpatient health centers and primary care physician offices in 15 counties. At the core of our $3.5 billion health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ranked among America's 50 best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in all 12 methodology-ranked specialties. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopaedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and genetics. Its main campus includes UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. For more information, go to http://www.uhhospitals.org
(Philadelphia, PA) - Today's academic medical centers (AMCs) need to embrace the changing healthcare marketplace or run the risk of becoming the next Kodak - a former industrial giant that became obsolete when it failed to adapt to a shifting technological landscape.
That is the premise of a commentary published this month electronically ahead of the print edition of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The commentary is authored by Verdi DiSesa, MD, MBA, Chief Operating Officer of the Temple University Health System (TUHS) and ...
PHILADELPHIA - An important link between the human body clock and the immune system has relevance for better understanding inflammatory and infectious diseases, discovered collaborators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College, Dublin. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they report how a critical white blood cell called the macrophage, when exposed to bacteria, makes the biological clock inside the macrophage stop, allowing it to become inflamed.
The complex mechanism they ...
ATS 2015, DENVER - Patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a coronary artery widening procedureused to treat heart disease, are at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to new research presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.
"Our findings, in a large, multicenter sample of patients, reinforce the known association between OSA and cardiovascular disease," said researcher Luciano Drager, MD, PhD, of the University of São Paulo School of Medicine in Brazil. "Nearly half of the patients in our ...
Researchers have found that adding genetic information to a former or current smoker's clinical risk profile results in a reclassification of their risk for lung cancer in about one in four patients. Preliminary findings from their lung cancer screening feasibility study also suggests that those whose genetic and clinical risk placed them in the highest risk category were more likely to adhere to follow-up computed tomography (CT) scans during screening.
The results of this study, conducted at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA, follows on the heels of the National ...
ATS 2015, DENVER -- Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) treatment could be a valuable addition to comprehensive therapy in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome, according to a new study. The study was presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.
"In our study with 40 newly diagnosed OSA patients and a control group, pulmonary rehabilitation helped reduce body mass index, certain body circumferences, and improve pulmonary function," said researcher Katerina Neumannova, MSc, PhD, Palacky University, Faculty of Physical Culture, Olomouc, ...
Studies have shown that both air pollution and impaired lung function can cause cognitive deficits, but it was unclear whether air pollution diminishes cognition by reducing breathing ability first or whether air pollution represents an independent risk factor for cognitive deficit. Now a new study conducted by German and Swiss researchers has answered that question: air pollution directly affects cognition and is not mediated by lung function.
The researchers, who analyzed data from a study of 834 elderly German women, will present their findings at ATS 2015 in Denver, ...
ATS 2015, DENVER--Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), being female, and certain scores on the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were associated with exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in subjects using long-acting controller medication, according to a study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.
"Knowing these factors can help clinicians identify subjects at risk for acute exacerbations of their COPD," said Robert Busch, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.
Although inhaled medications ...
The overall suicide rate among children ages 5 to 11 was stable during the 20 years from 1993 to 2012 but that obscures racial differences that show an increase in suicide among black children and a decrease among white children, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.
Youth suicide is a major public health concern. However not much is known about childhood suicide because prior studies have typically excluded children younger than 10 years old and only investigated trends among older children, according to the study background.
Jeffrey A. Bridge, ...
Patients with chest pain who are admitted to the hospital after an emergency department evaluation with negative findings and nonconcerning vital signs rarely had adverse cardiac events, suggesting that routine inpatient admission may not be a beneficial strategy for this group of patients, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Patients with potentially ischemic (restricted blood flow) chest pain are commonly admitted to the hospital or observed after a negative evaluation in the emergency department because of concern about adverse events. ...
A preliminary study of retired National Football League (NFL) players suggests that history of concussion with loss of consciousness may be a risk factor for increased brain atrophy in the area involved with memory storage and impaired memory performance later in life, according to an article published online by JAMA Neurology.
While most individuals recover completely from concussion within days or weeks, the potential association of concussion and the subsequent development of memory dysfunction with brain atrophy later in life remains poorly understood, according to ...
