Promising results for a new Colorectal Cancer Treatment

A new tablet treatment called divarasib has shown it is very effective in treating a challenging type of Colorectal Cancer associated with the KRAS G12C mutation. Research, published in Nature Medicine, has shown remarkable results in 62% of people with KRAS G12C mutated Colorectal Cancer achieving a positive response to treatment when given divarasib in combination with another treatment called cetuximab. These results are incredibly impressive.

Although the KRAS G12C mutation only occurs in approximately 4% of patients with Colorectal Cancer, it is routinely tested for, so researchers’ ability to identify the right patients to offer such trial treatment to is straightforward. The median progression-free survival for patients in the study was just over eight months and the treatment was well tolerated with manageable side effects. While this is not a head-to-head trial, the response rates are better than what the researchers have seen with other treatments that work on the KRAS G12C mutation pathway.

The researchers are very hopeful that this combination of divarasib with cetuximab will translate into better outcomes for Colorectal Cancer patients. Early drug development trials require a very experienced team with specialized skills and the team have to be extraordinary at ensuring the best for the patients and trial compliance. KRAS is a key protein that controls how cells divide and survive and when the KRAS-G12C protein mutates it makes cells, including cancer cells, more likely to divide uncontrollably leading to the development of tumors.

Colorectal Cancer starts in your colon, the long tube that helps carry digested food to your rectum and out of your body.

It develops from certain polyps or growths in the inner lining of your colon. Healthcare providers have screening tests that detect polyps before they can become cancerous tumors. Colorectal Cancer that is not detected or treated may spread to other areas of your body. Thanks to screening tests, early treatment, and new kinds of treatment, fewer people are dying from it.

Your colon wall is made of layers of mucous membrane, tissue, and muscle. Colorectal Cancer starts in your mucosa, the innermost lining of your colon. It consists of cells that make and release mucus and other fluids. If these cells mutate or change, they may create a colon polyp. It usually takes about 10 years for cancer to form in a colon polyp. Left undetected or untreated, the Colorectal Cancer works its way through a layer of tissue, muscle, and the outer layer of your colon.

Then it may also spread to other parts of your body via your lymph nodes or your blood vessels. It is the third most common cancer diagnosed in people in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), men are slightly more likely to develop colon cancer than women. Colorectal Cancer affects more people who are Black than people who are members of other ethnic groups or races.

Colorectal Cancer typically affects people age 50 and older.

Over the past 15 years, however, the number of people age 20 to 49 with Colorectal Cancer has increased by about 1.5% each year. Medical researchers are not sure why this is happening. You can have it without having symptoms. If you do have symptoms, you may not be sure if changes in your body are signs of it. It happens when cells grow and divide uncontrollably.

All cells in your body are constantly growing, dividing, and dying. That is how your body remains healthy and working as it should. In this case, cells lining your colon and rectum keep growing and dividing even when they are supposed to die. These cells may come from polyps in your colon. In October 2023, one hurdle that is often overlooked is needle phobia, which can leave many kids downright terrified of getting a shot that can provide them with protection over the course of a season, or even a lifetime.

With the school year well underway, holiday travel just around the corner, and the spread of respiratory pathogens already in full swing, pediatricians are trying to shield as many kids as possible from the possibility of severe outcomes from preventable illnesses. Indeed, estimates have indicated that as many as two in three children have needle phobia. Needle phobia can be learned from a past experience of pain, but there is also a biological component that makes some people react very strongly to the idea of procedures involving a needle.

Needle phobia can make procedures feel more painful, lead to severe panic, and in some cases to a physical response that causes fainting.

Furthermore, needle phobia may lead to the avoidance of vaccines altogether, with the CDC reporting that as many as one in 10 people might delay the covid vaccine due to needle phobia. In the case of young patients, needle phobia may stress both the child and parent. It is an art and a science to practice pediatrics. A pediatrician’s office is an ideal spot for kids to receive vaccines because this type of setting is uniquely positioned for giving the greatest comfort, and providers in this setting are uniquely trained to interact with and care for infants and toddlers.

It is essential to start with parents when it comes to addressing needle phobia in kids. A lot of it is communication with the parents, especially for the new parents. Explaining everything in detail goes a long way, and this is especially true in regards to the benefits of vaccination. As for the need for needles, the big picture is that they are simply the modality for getting the best protection for life.

However, there are techniques to help soothe anxious children. Healthcare providers can use techniques aimed at distracting the child while they receive a shot, or they can give a vaccine while the child sits in their parent’s lap, it is important to have the parent present. Indeed, a systematic review published in Pediatrics indicated that non-digital distraction strategies, such as singing or blowing bubbles, were as effective as digital distraction strategies, such as virtual reality, or listening to a book or music.

In addition, it is important for parental involvement in helping to achieve a positive, calm, and even pain-free poke.

Some parents do not speak up because they feel intimidated, or the doctor or nurse does not ask. They may worry that they will upset someone. It is okay to speak up when you know what works for your child. Your pediatrician needs and wants your input. Often, the potential needle phobia among young patients is simply accepted as part of the process. However, this issue can negatively affect the receipt of important vaccines and other healthcare services, such as routine blood draws.

There are ongoing efforts to help address needle phobia in young patients. For example, the Comfort, Ask, Relax, Distract (CARD) framework developed in Canada. Benefits of CARD include reducing stress-related reactions, including fear, pain, dizziness, and fainting during vaccination. It is also said to improve the vaccination experience not only for the person receiving a vaccine, but also the educators, parents, and healthcare providers who support them.

Recent research related to CARD included the evaluation of a web-based game that uses the framework to teach kids how to cope with needles. School-age children and their parents liked the CARD game and learned coping strategies they would use during future needles. Overall, when it comes to vaccination in young patients, actually planning it out is much more effective.

Children may be able to make decisions on matters like whether they want to be on their parent’s lap while receiving the vaccine, as well as what tools they would like to have present for distraction, such as the ability to watch a YouTube video or play their favorite game.

These preferences can be communicated with healthcare staff to partner on the process. There is more of a movement now to actually recognize that we can make this process better and less fearful. In August 2020, the preconception of weight problems has actually hampered existing treatment. Weight problems is an intricate condition of its own, one that can be triggered by genetic, environmental or psychological aspects, among others.

This is a huge departure from this idea that you can step on a scale and detect obesity. About 30% of Canadian adults have weight problems, while the number rises to over 42% among Americans. It is linked to severe conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and sleep disorders. Doctors might write off clients with obesity as lacking in self-discipline, or might even bring up their weight when its not relevant.

The prejudiced treatment is enough to drive people with weight problems away from medication for good. Public health scientists and fat approval advocates might disagree when it comes to obesity, how to explain it, and whether it needs medical intervention. The primary step motivates medical professionals to ask their clients whether they feel comfortable discussing their weight.

If they are, and they desire to pursue treatment, then physicians can move forward.

In this phase, physicians must reassess obesity as a persistent illness that is not treatable with a temporary diet plan or even a significant treatment like bariatric surgery. As a result, obesity needs long-term care from a physician. Obesity management needs to be based on the principles of chronic illness management, which implies any quick fix is not going to have a long-lasting effect.

The brand-new standard efforts is to attend to weight problems as an intricate illness to be managed using a combination approach. It likewise acknowledges the significance of patient-centered, separately tailored methods. But the guidelines are not completely aligned with the fat acceptance motion, though the guidelines were created with the cooperation and input of people with weight problems.

Numerous fat-positive activists decline the belief that fatness is a flaw or an illness. Identifying fatness as a disease turns a typical human variation into an issue that has to be fixed. The standards could also still leave room for discrimination amongst physicians. Eat less, move more, was simply one narrow view of a complex condition of which there is no one root cause.

The standards open a window for a more considerate view of obesity, one that centers around patients.

It is a physician’s duty to determine those causes, chart a course for tailored treatment, and work with with the client along the way. Not all treatment choices for clients with obesity include slimming down. If a client consumes much healthier foods, workouts frequently, and is showing total signs of enhanced health without reducing weight, then they are successful.

More importantly, the issues related to obesity are those conditions better managed that may or may not lose the weight. It involves helping patients with barriers to fulfilling their objectives, whatever they may be. It is a doctor’s task to be helpful and determine those barriers prior to the barriers showing up so that the barriers do not suppress a patient’s success.

Weight has actually ended up being a polarizing and knotty topic in medicine. These guidelines are an excellent upgrade from the previous approach to obesity. The doctors believe medical professionals have actually not been treating clients with obesity the way they ought to be. In their view, weight discrimination hampers treatment and medicine has made little space for body positivity.

Weight problems need to be specified by a person’s health, instead of simply their weight.

It is incredibly dehumanizing to be spoken about in the very same way as an infection. The guidelines are not developed to require people into accepting treatment. If someone is not interested in altering anything about themselves, then they should not be made to as long as their health is not in jeopardy. Any requirement to take care of fat people that does not end and begin to treat them like thin people is inadequate.

By that meaning, people would just be diagnosed as obese if their body weight impacts their physical health or psychological health and wellbeing. This has nothing to do with size or shape or anything else. When dealing with patients with weight problems, the brand-new standards provide a five-step road map for medical professionals to follow.