Friday, November 12, 2010
colon cancer statins
A Randomized Trial of Statins
A more definitive word about the effectiveness of statins in preventing colorectal growths will eventually come from a new randomized trial sponsored by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), suggested Scott Lippman, MD, who moderated the press conference at which Dr. Simon spoke.
Dr. Lippman is editor-in-chief of Cancer Prevention Research and professor and chair in the Department of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The NASBP trial, which is entitled Statin Polyp Prevention Trial in Patients With Resected Colon Cancer, is a phase 3 trial that compares the daily use of the statin rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca) with placebo over 5 years in patients with recently resected stage I or II colon cancer.
"Our NSABP P-5 trial opened in late March of this year, and we have [institutional review board] approvals from more than 125 sites located throughout the United States and Canada," NSABP official, Larry Wickerman, MD, told Medscape Medical News.
Earlier this year at the AACR's annual meeting, a new study found that statins do not protect patients against colorectal adenomas, the benign growths that are precursors of colorectal cancer, and might even increase the risk of developing them when used for 3 years or more.
Those results were published in the May issue of Cancer Prevention Research (2010;3:588-596). In an editorial that accompanied the study (2010;3:573-575), a commentator said that there is "accumulating evidence that, at least overall, statins probably do not prevent colorectal neoplasia." However, there was a caveat in the editorial: "It is conceivable that there are benefits with high cumulative doses or in genetically defined subgroups."
A more definitive word about the effectiveness of statins in preventing colorectal growths will eventually come from a new randomized trial sponsored by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), suggested Scott Lippman, MD, who moderated the press conference at which Dr. Simon spoke.
Dr. Lippman is editor-in-chief of Cancer Prevention Research and professor and chair in the Department of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The NASBP trial, which is entitled Statin Polyp Prevention Trial in Patients With Resected Colon Cancer, is a phase 3 trial that compares the daily use of the statin rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca) with placebo over 5 years in patients with recently resected stage I or II colon cancer.
"Our NSABP P-5 trial opened in late March of this year, and we have [institutional review board] approvals from more than 125 sites located throughout the United States and Canada," NSABP official, Larry Wickerman, MD, told Medscape Medical News.
Earlier this year at the AACR's annual meeting, a new study found that statins do not protect patients against colorectal adenomas, the benign growths that are precursors of colorectal cancer, and might even increase the risk of developing them when used for 3 years or more.
Those results were published in the May issue of Cancer Prevention Research (2010;3:588-596). In an editorial that accompanied the study (2010;3:573-575), a commentator said that there is "accumulating evidence that, at least overall, statins probably do not prevent colorectal neoplasia." However, there was a caveat in the editorial: "It is conceivable that there are benefits with high cumulative doses or in genetically defined subgroups."
# posted by roodbont @ 3:31 PM 
