Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive.

Love this!  Due to early screening, treatment and prevention, along with the decrease in smoking, cancer deaths have dropped 20% over the past 20 years. According to Ahmedin Jemal of the American Cancer Society, the most progress has been made in colon, breast and prostate cancer.

The report estimates that in 2014, "about 1,600 people will die from cancer each day." Additionally, "lung, colon, prostate and breast cancers are the most common causes of cancer death."  This is important to REMEMBER because these account for, "almost half of the all cancer deaths...just over one in four cancer deaths is from lung cancer," the researchers noted in the same report.

Friends and family, let's start this new year right.  SCREENING + TREATMENT = PREVENTION.

I got you!

Dr. Dale, Colon Globe Winning (something like that)

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http://consumer.healthday.com/cancer-information-5/breast-cancer-news-94/u-s-cancer-deaths-decline-again-report-683602.html

U.S. Cancer Deaths Decline Again: Report

Better prevention, screening and treatment are keys to continued progress, experts say

By Steven ReinbergHealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 7, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The rate of cancer deaths among Americans continues to decline, according to a new report. Over the last 20 years, the overall risk of dying from cancer has dropped 20 percent, researchers found.

The fastest decline in cancer death risk has been among middle-aged black men, for whom death rates have dropped by about 50 percent, the study authors report.

"We continue to make progress against cancer," said report co-author Ahmedin Jemal, vice president for surveillance and health services research at the American Cancer Society.

But despite this progress, black men still have the highest cancer incidence and death rates of all groups -- about double those for Asian Americans, who have the lowest rates, the authors pointed out in a news release from the American Cancer Society.

The decline in cancer deaths from 1991 to 2010 varied by age, race and sex, researchers found. For example, there was no decline in deaths for white women 80 and older, but a 55 percent decline among black men aged 40 to 49 years old.

This progress is largely because of better prevention, screening and treatment, Jemal said. The dramatic decline in cancer among black men is most likely attributable to decreases in smoking, he added.

Jemal said most of the progress has been made in colon, breast and prostate cancer. These cancers can be screened for and, when caught early, have better outcomes, he said.

In addition, decreased smoking has reduced the number of lung cancers, Jemal said.

But some cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, for which there is no screening and for which treatment often comes too late, remain just as deadly, he said.

Jemal, however, expects a brighter future as screening increases as more Americans get access to health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Not having insurance is the biggest barrier to screening, he explained.

Still, more needs to be done to close the improvement gap between races, an expert said.

"The halving of the risk of cancer death among middle-aged black men in just two decades is extraordinary, but it is immediately tempered by the knowledge that death rates are still higher among black men than white men for nearly every major cancer and for all cancers combined," John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a society news release.

The report was published Jan. 7 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said, "The good news is that the rate of deaths has declined again for almost the 10th consecutive year."

D'Amico also believes that these declines are the result of better screening, especially screening for prostate cancer. In addition, new treatments are reducing deaths, he said.

"Something good is happening and I would attribute that to screening and better treatments," D'Amico said. "We have better treatments for men and women, so screening can only help," he added.

In 2014, it's estimated there will be over 1.6 million new cancer cases and nearly 586,000 cancer deaths in the United States, according to the report. Although the number of new cancers and cancer deaths continues to increase as the population increases and ages, the rate of new cancers and cancer deaths is declining, Jemal explained.

For men, prostate, lung and colon cancer will make up half of all newly diagnosed cancers. Prostate cancer alone will account for about one-quarter of the cases, the researchers estimate.

Among women, the most common cancers will be breast, lung and colon cancer. Taken together, these will account for half of all cases. Breast cancer alone is estimated to account for 29 percent of all new cancers.

In 2014, about 1,600 people will die from cancer each day, the report estimates. Lung, colon, prostate and breast cancers are the most common causes of cancer death. These account for almost half of the all cancer deaths. Just over one in four cancer deaths is from lung cancer, the researchers noted.

From 2006 to 2010, cancer rates dropped 0.6 percent per year among men while remaining stable among women. During the same time, death rates from cancer dropped by 1.8 percent per year among men and 1.4 percent per year among women, the investigators found.

Moreover, during the last 20 years, the death rate from cancer has continued to drop from a high of about 215 per 100,000 people to about 172 per 100,000 people in 2010. This means that 1,340,400 fewer cancer deaths (952,700 among men and 387,700 among women) were avoided during that time period, the researchers explained.

More information

For more facts on cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: Ahmedin Jemal, Ph.D., vice president, surveillance and health services research, American Cancer Society; Anthony D'Amico, M.D., Ph.D., chief, radiation oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston; American Cancer Society, news release, Jan. 7, 2014; Jan. 7, 2014, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians

Last Updated: Jan. 07, 2014

Copyright © 2014 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

I love this story. G E T...C H E C K E D!

I could go on and on about all the different times unexpected things like this have happened in my office. Don't be scared, friends.  I got you.

l

-- Dr. Dale

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/03/3910400/flush-away-those-colonoscopy-fears.html

Posted on Mon, Feb. 03, 2014

Flush away those colonoscopy fears

By Lisa Gutierrez The Kansas City Star

FRED BLOCHER / MCT

Colon cancer survivor Danielle Ripley-Burgess, of Lee's Summit, Mo., supports an organization that takes an educational traveling exhibit about the disease. It features a 40-foot-long model of a colon that young and old can crawl through, as seen Dec. 14, 2013, at New Summit Church in Lee's Summit.

She couldn’t tell her mom that something was wrong because it was way too embarrassing.She didn’t even like to walk down the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store.So when Danielle Ripley-Burgess, 30, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was in junior high school and began finding blood in the toilet after going to the bathroom, “I didn’t say anything about it for a long, long time. I was mortified.”

When she finally did, she and her mom, at first, did their own research on the Internet and figured that because Danielle was so young, the problem had to be something benign, like hemorrhoids.

Wrong.

Just a few weeks after her 17th birthday in 2001 she was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, going from prom plans to hospital stays in the blink of an eye.

Today, at 30, she’s a wife and mother running a marketing firm – Semicolon Communications, wink, wink – and doing what she can to get people talking about what she once feared.

She’s not above using props, either. Big ones. In early December she arranged to have a 40-foot crawl-through model of a colon trucked into town.

The message? Being afraid to talk about what happens in the bathroom could kill you.

Colorectal cancer is the second-most deadly cancer, but the majority of cases are preventable with the use of a common screening procedure called a colonoscopy.

Precancerous growths found during a colonoscopy – recommended every 10 years beginning at 50 – can be removed on the spot. That’s important because those growths, or polyps, can stick around in your colon for years and become full-blown cancer.

“This is the only situation in all of medicine where the test used to screen for a cancer is also the method for preventing that same cancer,” said Larry Geier, a genetics oncologist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center and one of Ripley-Burgess’ doctors.

“In all other situations – mammogram, Pap smear – the screening test may be effective for early detection but provides no ability to prevent the cancer itself.”

And yet, people fear the colonoscopy. Statistics show that only half of Americans older than 50 have ever had one, or any other type of colorectal cancer screening process.

The ick factor is high. Here are the excuses patients give Geier.

• “I don’t like the idea of a doctor sticking a scope up my rectum. I am too modest for that.”

• “I hear the preparation for the test is very difficult, and I don’t want to do that.”

• “I am not having any symptoms, therefore I don’t have cancer.”

• “I just don’t have time for that.”

“I have heard each of these reasons too many times over the years, and none of them are worth taking the chance, or what I consider to be playing ‘Russian roulette' with your colon,” Geier said.

Only 10 percent of all people diagnosed with the disease are younger than 50.

But while cases of colon cancer among adults 50 and older are falling, rates among younger adults like Ripley-Burgess are rising, according to the Colon Cancer Alliance.

“There is definitely a trend toward younger age at the time of diagnosis of colon cancer over the last two decades,” Geier said. “Changes in diet, better screening and more awareness of early symptoms may each have a role but still don’t provide adequate explanation.”

What happened to Ripley-Burgess was rare. She was diagnosed with colon cancer at 17 and again at 25, when all but a foot of her large intestine had to be removed.

“I have to be kind of careful with what I eat, when I eat.” No big chili dogs for lunch, for example. “It’s normal for me now.”

It was her bad luck to be, Geier put it, “genetically programmed” to develop colon cancer at such a young age. She has a genetic trait known as Lynch syndrome, which affects about 1 in every 4 to 5 Americans and is largely underdiagnosed.

Colon Cancer Warning Signs 

• Blood in the stool (frequently not visible to the naked eye), a change in stool habits, a gradual decrease in the size of the stool, increasing abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss

• Those symptoms are much more likely to occur when the tumor is in the rectum or the very last part of the colon. Cancers that are higher up in the colon frequently don’t signal their presence with these symptoms until the tumor is quite large. That’s why screening for the cancer when there are no symptoms is critical.

• Anyone with one or more of these symptoms should tell their doctor.

Source: Larry Geier, genetics oncologist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/03/v-print/3910400/flush-away-those-colonoscopy-fears.html#storylink=cpy

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Do You Have This?

7/23/2013 Friends,

Everybody will experience some sort of gastrointestinal discomfort at certain points of one’s life. However, when can you say that you are experiencing an irritable bowel syndrome? This condition leads to series of discomforts such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation and bloating. And majority of these discomforts originates from the large intestine. Fortunately, all these symptoms will not lead to permanent damages on your gastrointestinal tract. And as long as this is detected early, these symptoms can be managed well through stress reduction and proper diet.

Symptoms to Watch Out

If you are a woman who is younger than 45 years of age, then you must watch out for symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Statistics shows that women are more predisposed to this syndrome than men. Hence, women with IBS doubled the number with that of the men. Many people suffer from these symptoms too. In fact around 3-20 % of the population has IBS. But because the discomfort is tolerable, only one third of these people seek for medical care. Hence, many individuals are not aware that they have Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Symptoms start with unusual bowel movement. If you visit the comfort room more often than you usually do or there is a sudden change in the consistency of your stool with no apparent reason, then you have the reason to suspect that you have IBS. Such symptom may be relieved when you move your bowels.  Other symptoms must also be noted such as constipation, diarrhea, incomplete bowel movement sensation, abdominal bloating and evidence of mucus on your stool. It can be considered as diarrhea if your stool is loose or watery with the frequency of more than 2 times daily. The condition can also be considered as constipation if you have only moved less than 4 times a week and your stool is dry and hard, causing you to strain in your bowel movements. These discomforts often follow after a meal. Furthermore, the condition can never be termed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome if it only occurs twice in month.

Precipitating Factors

Perhaps you are wondering what causes IBS. Unfortunately, its etiology is still unknown. However, its correlation with food allergies and stress is being investigated. Experts claim that this can also be caused by Bacterial Gastroenteritis. However, it does not follow that this illness will often lead to IBS. It’s just that there are individuals who have GIT lining defects or are psychologically disturbed, making them prone to experience Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Other causes can be genetics, neurotransmitter problems or bacterial growth in small intestines known as “SIBO”.

Management

For milder cases, stress reduction and proper diet will suffice to manage Irritable Bowel Syndrome. However, more severe cases will need further medical treatment. This includes taking medications and probiotics as well as addressing one’s mental or emotional problems. Symptomatic treatments may also be given such as antidepressant drugs, antispasmodics, laxatives, fiber supplements, antidiarrheals and many others.

If you think you are experiencing Irritable Bowel Syndrome right now, do not freak out. After all, this can be managed well. However, proper medical intervention must also be done early to avoid further complications.

Please come see me if you think you have IBS.

-- Dr. Dale