John A. Baron, a professor of Medicine and of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, outlined the latest research findings about everyday activities and substances that can increase or decrease an individual’s vulnerability to adenomas at Tuesday’s pathology research and review seminar titled “Pathology Adventures in Adenoma Prevention Trials.”
An adenoma is a group of polyps, which, although benign by definition, are able to become malignant as adenocarcinomas. Benign adenomas are also able to cause health concerns through obstruction of other structures.
Baron’s seminar focused on the relationship between colorectal polyps and risk factors that may increase their likelihood of developing into cancer.
The impact of a healthy diet, for instance on colorectal cancer, “may be a myth,” according to Baron. Through a randomized trial, an individual’s diet was found to have a minimal impact on colorectal cancer risk.
Fiber and meat were two aspects of diet that had been considered as colorectal cancer influencing agents in the past. Fiber in particular had held promise as a risk reducing substance, while meat had been seen as a potential cancer threat. However, neither fiber nor meat were found to produce any significant difference in the risk curve on trial data.
One of the more startling pieces of Baron’s data was the revocation of certain agents that had become nearly synonymous with increased colorectal cancer risk. Practices such as smoking, obesity, and the consumption of alcohol were all shown to produce only a slight increase in the potential for colorectal cancer.
Exercise, however, was consistently observed as a strong preventive practice for colorectal cancer. In fact, in all of the research trials exercise overshadowed any form of good diet as a cancer reducing practice.
Aspirin was also included as a risk reducing agent of colorectal cancer. Interestingly, however, it was only in the long term that the positive effects of aspirin became apparent. In the first ten years of treatment there was no significant difference in risk. After the ten-year mark, however, there was a clear reduction in cancer risk in English trials.
Baron summarized colorectal cancer rates in the United States as declining, which he attributed to increased awareness and a domestic culture of health. This culture includes regular colon exams and knowledge of risk factors such as those mentioned above.
The next segment of Baron’s seminar focused on the ways in which polyps are examined and determined as cancerous. Colorectal polyps present almost universally with no symptoms and little if any bleeding.
Of the two types of polyps, which are known as adenomas and hyperplastic polyps, only adenomas can develop into cancer. The characteristics assessed in determining cancer risk include the level to which an adenoma is advanced, which refers to size, villous, which refers to the extent to which it is covered in villi, and dispersion, which refers to an expansion of immature cells.
Any above average level of the aforementioned aspects of colorectal polyps is an indicator of a cancer risk.
As the complicated relationships between substances and cancer risk become better understood, medical professionals are more able to act proactively in the ongoing fight against cancer. Baron’s research is thus crucial to individual well being, because it helps citizens avoid the myriad of potential carcinogens that they wade through every day.