Research updates
A book goes out of date the day it is printed. This is how I keep it current: new colorectal cancer research, read, filtered and written up in plain language.
How these are chosen
Every week I search Europe PMC, which covers PubMed and the medRxiv preprint server in one index, across the topics the book is built on: recurrence prevention and screening, diet and lifestyle, the supplements and repurposed drugs, and the microbiome.
Most of what comes back is not worth your time, so every abstract is scored for whether a patient or a clinician would actually gain anything from it, and the rest is dropped. What survives gets written up with the study design stated at the top, the numbers that matter, the limitations, and a link to the source so you can check my reading against the paper. Preprints are labelled as preprints, because they have not been peer reviewed.
I never republish an abstract. Everything here is my own synthesis, written to be readable by the person it concerns rather than by a specialist.
These summaries are education, not medical advice. A single new study rarely changes what you should do, and the ones that sound most dramatic are usually the ones that replicate least. Discuss anything here with your oncology team before acting on it.
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Bevacizumab triplet had 0.99 probability of top surgical-conversion ranking
Across seven randomised trials in initially unresectable colorectal liver metastases, bevacizumab plus triplet chemotherapy ranked highest for disease control and conversion to R0-1 surgery. That ranking drew partly…
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Tislelizumab regimen reached 45.3% pathological complete response in rectal cancer
In this 118-patient randomised phase II trial, adding tislelizumab to short-course radiotherapy and CAPOX chemotherapy was associated with a higher pathological complete response rate than the same treatment…
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First-line immunotherapy reduced progression hazard 39% in MSI-H metastatic colorectal cancer
A meta-analysis of two randomised phase III trials found longer progression-free and overall survival with first-line checkpoint-inhibitor therapy than chemotherapy in MSI-H/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer. The evidence is…
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The saliva microbiome might help detect early-onset colorectal cancer.
In a prospective cohort of 128 people, a machine-learning model using saliva bacteria distinguished people with early-onset colorectal cancer from healthy controls with an AUC of 0.780. This…
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Updated PHTS surveillance guidance includes colorectal cancer, but evidence remains limited
This ERN GENTURIS expert guideline updates cancer surveillance advice for people with PTEN hamartoma tumour syndrome, including colorectal cancer surveillance. It is based on a literature review and…
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Cetuximab-irinotecan produced 18.8 versus 10.4 months median survival
In a 68-patient exploratory randomised trial, rechallenge with cetuximab plus irinotecan produced longer median progression-free and overall survival than regorafenib. The result is promising but comes from one…
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Older surgical patients had 66.2% five-year recurrence-free survival
In this English national cohort, patients over 75 selected for curative colorectal cancer surgery had lower five-year recurrence-free survival than younger patients, largely alongside higher death from both…
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Radiation boost improved nine-year disease-free survival by 23 percentage points
In a 106-person randomised phase II trial in locally advanced rectal cancer, a higher-dose radiation boost during preoperative chemoradiotherapy was associated with better nine-year disease-free and overall survival.…
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AI assistance detected adenomas in 33.8% versus 30.9% in Lynch surveillance
In this randomised trial across nine specialist centres, adding the CAD EYE artificial intelligence system to high-definition colonoscopy did not significantly increase adenoma detection in people with Lynch…
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Severe immune toxicity linked to 48.6% response in MSI-H cancers
In this 1,175-patient retrospective study, people who developed severe immune-related side effects had a higher recorded response rate to immunotherapy. The association is hypothesis-generating, not proof that toxicity…
Keep up with the research
New colorectal cancer research, screened and explained in plain language, sent when there is something genuinely worth reading. Roughly monthly, never more than that.
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