Colostomy News and Research

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Five major advances in anal and rectal cancer treatment with radiotherapy: A new era of organ-preserving options

Rectal cancer is a type of bowel cancer that develops in the last several centimeters of the large intestine, just before the anus.

2 May 2025

New trial aims to make rectal cancer more responsive to radiation

City of Hope, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S. with its National Medical Center named top 5 in the nation for cancer by U.S. News & World Report, has opened a phase 1 trial seeking to one day transform rectal cancer from a mostly radiation-resistant disease to one that can be cured using radiation and chemotherapy.

25 Mar 2025

MRI can spare many patients with rectal cancer from invasive surgery

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can spare many patients with rectal cancer from invasive surgery that can carry lifelong side effects, new research indicates.

22 Oct 2024

Long radiotherapy course shows better organ preservation in rectal cancer

The COVID-19 pandemic has enabled researchers to show that a long course of radiotherapy given before surgery may be a better treatment for avoiding surgery, preserving the rectum and anus, and preventing regrowth of the primary tumor than a short course of radiotherapy for patients with rectal cancer – a type of bowel cancer.

11 Sep 2024

Feds rein in use of predictive software that limits care for Medicare Advantage patients

Judith Sullivan was recovering from major surgery at a Connecticut nursing home in March when she got surprising news from her Medicare Advantage plan: It would no longer pay for her care because she was well enough to go home.

5 Oct 2023

Delays in stoma reversal surgery do not affect post-operative clinical outcomes

Patients can be reassured that delays in stoma reversal surgery do not affect long-term outcomes according to research funded by Bowel Cancer UK and North West Cancer Research.

20 Apr 2023

CDC recommendations and clinical considerations for the treatment of severe Mpox

In a recent article published in the United States (U.S.) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a team of researchers discussed the medical countermeasures and clinical considerations for treating severe manifestations of Mpox.

6 Mar 2023

Study reports high rates of complications, rehospitalizations among patients undergoing abdominal ostomy surgery

Patients undergoing abdominal surgery for ostomy placement have high rates of hospital readmissions and emergency department visits – often involving ostomy-related complications, reports a study in the November/December issue of the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, the official journal of the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society.

29 Nov 2022

AI-driven medical imaging may help fight against rectal cancer

Building on its successes in applying artificial intelligence (AI) to medical imaging to enhance treatment of other diseases, a Case Western Reserve University-led team next will test its approach with rectal cancer patients.

4 Dec 2021

New approach can prevent aggressive operation in certain rectal cancer patients

A nonsurgical treatment option for rectal cancer that preserves quality of life is safe for carefully selected patients, according to a new study comparing it with the standard operation.

27 Oct 2020

'Watch-and-Wait' strategy may help rectal cancer patients to safely evade surgery

A team of doctors and scientists from the Champalimaud Clinical Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, has shown that patients with "low" rectal cancer (that is, very close to the anus) who show no sign of their tumors after a course of radio- and chemotherapy can safely choose to postpone invasive and complication-prone surgical procedures.

6 Feb 2020

Terminally ill scientist replumbed as a Cyborg

A 61 year old British scientist suffering from a life threatening muscle wasting disease – motor neurone disease or MND, has managed to convert himself fully into a cyborg called Peter 2.0 making him the first to do so.

14 Nov 2019

A young woman, a wheelchair and the fight to take her place at Stanford

Sylvia Colt-Lacayo is 18, fresh-faced and hopeful, as she beams confidence from her power wheelchair. Her long dark hair is soft and carefully tended, and her wide brown eyes are bright.

4 Sep 2019

Single high dose of radiation targeted directly to tumor is safe and effective for prostate cancer

A single high dose of radiation that can be delivered directly to the tumor within a few minutes is a safe and effective technique for treating men with low risk prostate cancer, according to a study presented at the ESTRO 38 conference.

29 Apr 2019

Study emphasizes the need for doctors to understand what patients undergoing surgery really want

What do patients really want? These are important questions that doctors at the University of Vermont have tried to answer.

31 Jul 2018

Radiation therapy alone may be enough to treat older, sicker patients with anal cancers

The incidence of anal cancer continues to rise. Despite making the headlines with Farrah Fawcett, people are still reluctant to discuss this important cancer.

18 Jun 2018

Researchers identify workplace dress codes as hindrance for people with disabilities

According to the U.S. Census, nearly 20 million people of working age live with a disability. While past research has indicated that people living with disabilities face barriers in workplace participation, researchers from the University of Missouri have now found one hindrance to workplace participation for people with disabilities is the lack of appropriate clothing. This barrier increases their stigma and decreases their confidence.

31 May 2018

L.A. County unlawfully terminated thousands of Medi-Cal recipients, court rules

Los Angeles County unlawfully dropped an estimated 22,000 people from California's Medicaid program, including low-income seniors and disabled residents who couldn't get vital medications and medical care after their coverage was terminated, according to a court ruling late last week.

17 May 2018

The Truth Behind Donating Your Body to a Medical School

Cambridge University is one of a decreasing number of medical schools where undergraduates learn anatomy primarily through hands-on dissection. Cecilia Brassett, a Clinical Anatomist at The University of Cambridge, discusses her thoughts on the recent rise in donations and explains how the donors are used to train medical students.

27 Apr 2018

Surgeons identify rates of C. difficile infection in patients undergoing common colon operations

Clostridium difficile infection is the most common hospital-acquired infection and a significant cause of increased hospital stay and cost for patients and payors alike.

11 Apr 2018