Docs Hope New Drugs Will Treat Colon Cancer

BALTIMORE - Doctors hope new drugs will bring new hope to treating colon cancer.

Every year, doctors diagnose thousands of people with colon cancer, one of the most common forms of cancer. It can occur at any age, but it's most common over the age of 50, and it is far too often diagnosed in the late stages of the disease. But there is new hope for those patients, reports WBAL-TV in Baltimore.

Linda Klingler has enjoyed Christmas shopping this year, but she might have had good reason to doubt that would be true this past August.

"I was healthy, I had gone in for a physical, which showed my white blood count was down. The doctor said something is going on," Klingler said.

It turned out that something was colon cancer - two tumors. Just 10 years ago, Klingler's prognosis might have been bleak, but that has changed with new treatments.

"Unfortunately, many cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed at late stages, so they need chemo. So, it's exciting that new drugs are extending lives, and in some cases, improving cure rates," Dr. Debra Vachon, a surgeon at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, said.

Vachon said drugs like the new Avastin and Erbitux, both new therapies that work differently, but are making a real difference in the lives of cancer patients, Hamilton reported.

"There is a very dynamic field, lots of research going on, and patients and we doctors deserve the right to be cautiously optimistic and hopeful about the future," said Dr. Peter Ledakis, of Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center.

They reserve hope about the future.

"I feel great, I feel wonderful. I do! I just praise God. I feel wonderful," Klingler said.

Both doctors said it is much better to diagnose colorectal cancer early when it is curable. To do so, patients should obtain a colonoscopy.