Conditions

Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer affects the colon and/or rectum. Colorectal cancer develops over a ten to fifteen-year period and produces no symptoms until it is advanced. If the disease is detected early enough and the tumor has not metastasized, the survival rate is quite high.

Signs and Symptoms:

• Change in bowel habit with reduced caliber of stool
• Gastrointestinal or rectal bleeding
• Abdominal distension or pain
• Nausea, vomiting
• Anemia, loss of strength

Diagnosis:

• Screening for colon cancer is the best way to detect polyps before they turn cancerous. During regular checkups, men and women should have a rectal exam. Beginning at age fifty, one of the following tests should be performed along with a rectal exam:
• Fecal occult blood test and flexible simoidoscopy
• Colonoscopy
• Double contrast barium enema or colon x-ray.

In addition a test kit for detecting blood in the stool can be purchased at most drugstores.

Treatment Options:

Location and spread determine treatment. Surgery is the primary treatment modality, often used in combination with chemotherapy and radiation. It is important to treat concurrent anemia and to obtain baseline CEA level for later comparison.

Traditional Treatments:

Any of the following drugs may be used to help treat colorectal cancer:

• Fluorouracil is the most widely used agent
• Levamisole-significant improvement in recurrence interval and survival rate for stage C only
• Methotrexate-significant improvement in response rate, modest for survival
• Leucovorin-significant improvement in response rate and survival
• Radiation therapy-no benefit outside the rectum
• Aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs-reduce incidence
• Celecoxib (SC 58635)-a COX-2 inhibitor with dramatic results in rats; promising human pretrials
• Curcumin (turmeric)-inhibits lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase pathways
• Hepatic resection 25% to 35% disease-free five-year survival
• Pulmonary resection, if isolated and smaller than 3 cm; improved survival not definitive
• Irinotecan (CPT-11)-topoisomerase I inhibitor; 20% to 30% response rate; side effects-neutropenia, diarrhea
• Tomudex (ZD 1694)-inhibits thymidylate synthase; 26% response rate
• 5-FU-survival not improved
• Hepatic arterial infusion of 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (FUDR)- survival not prolonged

Surgical Procedures

• Colonoscopy-endoscopic polypectomy and mucosal biopsy
• Resect-tumor, regional lymph nodes (surgeon's skill is prognostic factor; 2% to 4.4% mortality; laparoscopy increasingly used)

Complementary and Alternative Therapies:

Nutrients and herbs may be helpful in enhancing conventional treatments, optimizing detoxification, and supporting immune function.

Nutritional Supplementation:

• Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme that has anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activity. Take with turmeric.
• Supplement dietary intake with omega-3 and omega-6 oils such as fish oil or evening primrose oil.
• Lactobacillus acidophilus may help prevent colon cancer by normalizing bowel flora.
• Coenzyme Q10 is an antioxidant, which has cardioprotective properties that help increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
• Nutrients that may be deficient in patients with colorectal cancer and which may provide protection against tumor development and progression include the following:
  Vitamin B12 (1,200 mcg/day) to avoid an imbalance between B12 and folate.
  Folic acid (800 to 1,200 mcg/day)
  Calcium (1,000 mg/day)
  Vitamin E (800 IU/day)
  Selenium (200 to 400 mcg/day)
  Beta-carotene (50,000 IU/day)
  Vitamin C (3 to 6 g/day)
• Include vitamin B12 (1,200 mcg/day) to avoid an imbalance between B12 and folate Warning: If you have high blood pressure, limit your intake of supplemental vitamin E to a total of 400 IU daily. If you are taking blood thinners, consult your doctor before taking supplemental vitamin E.

Alternative Therapies:

Hoxsey-like formulas are traditionally used in cancers. These formulas contain tumor-suppressing, immune-stimulating, and anti-mutagenic constituents. Licorice root, red clover, burdock, queen of the meadow, barberry, poke root, prickly ash bark, and buckthorn bark with potassium iodide salts.

Other herbs that stimulate the immune system and that may potentially be beneficial to you are coneflower, astragalus, tree of life, schizandra berry, and Siberian ginseng.

General Recommendations:

• Consider consulting a qualified homeopathic practitioner for a constitutional remedy that fits you.
• Include vegetables that enhance glutathione activity. Some examples of these are roccoli, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and onions.
• A high-fiber, low-protein diet is beneficial.
• Take your dietary fats from vegetable and fish sources (nuts, seeds, cold-water fish). These help reduce inflammation.

Warnings:

If you have high blood pressure, limit your intake of supplemental vitamin E to a total of 400 IU daily. If you are taking blood thinners, consult your doctor before taking supplemental vitamin E.