Gastroenterology - January 2012 Archives

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Doctors have known for years that the incidence of deadly liver cancer is on the rise, but what is causing that trend has remained a mystery. Two recent Mayo Clinic studies published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings offer a clearer picture of the rise of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, which has tripled in the U.S. in the last three decades and has a 10 to 12 percent five-year survival rate when detected in later stages.  "The studies illuminate the importance of identifying people with risk factors in certain populations to help catch the disease in its early, treatable stages," said W. Ray Kim, M.D., a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and principal investigator of one study. Dr. Kim's research group looked at several decades of records in the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a database that accounts for an entire county's inpatient and outpatient care. The study found the overall incidence of HCC in the population (6.9 per 100,000) is higher than has been estimated for the nation based on data from the National Cancer Institute (5.1 per 100,000). The study also found that HCC, which two decades ago tended to be caused by liver-scarring diseases such as cirrhosis from alcohol consumption, is now occurring as a consequence of hepatitis C infection. "The liver scarring from hepatitis C can take 20 to 30 years to develop into cancer," Dr. Kim says. "We're now seeing cancer patients in their 50s and 60s who contracted hepatitis C 30 years ago and didn't even know they were infected." Eleven percent of cases were linked to obesity, in particular fatty liver disease.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Results of two studies suggest that a new, investigational colorectal cancer screening test developed in a collaboration between Mayo Clinic and Exact Sciences Inc. of Madison, Wis., is highly accurate and significantly more sensitive than other noninvasive tests at detecting precancerous tumors (adenomas) and early-stage cancer. These findings have important implications for clinicians and tens of thousands of Americans. Early detection is a key driver of better outcomes for colorectal cancer — a disease that affects 1 in every 17 persons and is the second-leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths. VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. David Ahlquist describing the research, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. The first study, to be published in the February issue of Gastroenterology, shows that a new multi-marker stool DNA test is highly accurate at detecting precancerous polyps and early-stage colorectal cancer. This is the first large-scale, blinded study to measure the new test's effectiveness. The second study, to be published in the March issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, shows that the stool DNA test is significantly more accurate than a new plasma test for identifying patients with large precancerous polyps or colorectal cancer, while delivering fewer false-positive results.