The University of Colorado Cancer Center is one of eight cancer centers nationwide that will evaluate the feasibility of blood tests that can screen for several types of cancer.
Research Bladder Cancer Clinical Trials
Treatment guidelines for bladder cancer have changed significantly in recent years, due to the introduction of effective new drug combinations to treat the disease.
Patient Care Esophageal Cancer Clinical Trials
Mark Koebrich's heartburn, a lifelong companion through nearly four decades in television, took a turn for the worse after retirement, prompting him to seek medical advice. His general practitioner referred him to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, where he met Sachin Wani, MD, the Endowed Chair of the Katy O. and Paul M. Esophageal and Gastric Center of Excellence. Koebrich was diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus with low-grade dysplasia, a precancerous condition, and was enrolled in the SURVENT trial, a groundbreaking study offering cutting-edge treatment options.
Patient Care Colorectal Cancer Clinical Trials
Gabriel Charpentier began experiencing symptoms of stomach discomfort and fatigue at 34. Despite negative tests, he advocated for a colon cancer scan, leading to his diagnosis and participation in an immunotherapy clinical trial. His oncologist, University of Colorado Cancer Center member, Alexis Leal, MD, highlights the importance of clinical trials and the remarkable response Gabriel had to immunotherapy.
Research Cancer Clinical Trials
A dozen Colorado state senators and representatives gathered on February 6 for a briefing by leaders of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, who gave the lawmakers an overview of the threat posed by cancer, the center’s successes, and the importance of clinical trials in cancer treatment.
Research Breast Cancer Clinical Trials
Margaret Taylor thought she had reached the end of her breast cancer journey.
Research Cancer Clinical Trials
Not all clinical trials are aimed at finding new cures. There are also supportive care trials, with the goal of improving a patient’s quality of life.
Research Patient Care Community Lung Cancer Clinical Trials
A clinical trial for lung cancer at the University of Colorado Cancer Center saved Betty Moren’s life. Now Betty and her husband, Bill, are giving back, sharing their cancer journey and clinical trial experiences as patient advocates at the cancer center’s Thoracic Oncology Research Initiative (TORI), which brings together investigators from multiple departments and centers across the CU Anschutz Medical Campus to advance lung cancer research.
Research Breast Cancer Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are a vital part of the development of treatment in all cancers, including breast cancer, where clinical trials over the years have resulted in new drugs that prolong life and prevent cancer from spreading. Clinical trials are studies of new medications or treatments in humans before they are approved for widespread use.
Patient Care Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Urology
James Bird gets emotional talking about it. How he qualified for a clinical trial that, in his view, preserved his manhood after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2022.
“The day I went in to see if I qualified, there were 10 other guys out there in the lobby who didn’t get into the trial,” he says. “I felt so sorry for them. One of the technicians who was involved with the trial told me he was getting calls from all over, from guys begging to get in. That’s how important this is.”
When Nathan Hammond traveled to Colorado from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to consult with University of Colorado Cancer Center specialists about his newly diagnosed esophageal cancer, his first stop was the esophageal and gastric cancer multidisciplinary clinic, where patients are seen by doctors from multiple specialties — including surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, dietitians, and genetic counselors — all at the same time.
Research Community Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are an important part of cancer care, giving people with cancer potentially life-saving early access to new medications and treatments and making sure those medications and treatments are safe and efficacious before approving them for widespread use.
Research Press Releases Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials
A unique treatment combining radiation and immunotherapy can eradicate pancreatic tumors while stopping the cancer from spreading, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Research Head and Neck Cancer Clinical Trials
Over the past decade, human papillomavirus (HPV) has increasingly been identified as a significant cause of certain head and neck cancers – for example, evidence suggests it causes 70% of oropharyngeal cancers in the United States.
Research Patient Care Head and Neck Cancer Clinical Trials Immunotherapy
Jane Hart is a lot of things: extremely proud mom of Shelby, daughter extraordinaire and apple of Jane’s eye. Dog mom to (deservedly spoiled) Maizy, Taco, Winnie, and Walter. Collector of Talavera pottery. Unabashed “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” fan. A surprising 71, because she looks at least 10 years younger.
Cancer survivor – stage 4 laryngeal cancer that necessitated a tracheostomy and laryngectomy, that forced her to relearn how to breathe and talk.
Research Pediatric Cancer Blood Cancer Leukemia Clinical Trials
As part of its ongoing efforts to eradicate childhood cancers, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has awarded University of Colorado Cancer Center member Kelly Faulk, MD, a St. Baldrick’s Scholar grant to investigate a new method for treating infant leukemia.
Research Colorectal Cancer Clinical Trials DOM Newsletter
A new phase 2 clinical trial led by University of Colorado Cancer Center member Robert Lentz, MD, may offer hope for patients with metastatic colon cancer for whom standard therapy is no longer effective. Lentz is mentored by Wells Messersmith, MD, associate director of clinical services at the CU Cancer Center.
Research Cancer Clinical Trials
The effects of cancer are not just physical, especially in advanced stages of the disease. People living with a cancer diagnosis may experience depression, anxiety, and fear, or feel demoralized by the weight of new and unanticipated burdens.
Research Patient Care Sarcoma Clinical Trials
Ward McNeilly thought he was a goner.
It was summer 2021, and the sarcoma that had started in the Denver resident’s left thigh seemed to be under control, subdued by radiation and chemotherapy following a surgery in 2018 to remove the initial tumor and another surgery in 2019 to remove cancerous tumors in his groin. McNeilly was doing so well, in fact, that his doctors at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital authorized a “chemo vacation” to give his body a break from some of the side effects of the treatment.
Colorado is known for adventure – from kayaking to skiing, horseback riding to rock climbing, and everything in between. These sports take full advantage of the beauty and challenge of Colorado’s landscape, and often come to define a group of like-minded and spirited individuals who share a passion for adrenaline, community, and focus.
Research Community Magazine Clinical Trials
Molly the golden retriever was a fan of cookies. Whenever there was a plate of them nearby, she kept her eye on it, waiting for her chance to sneak one or five. She was a fan of water, too, even after she had surgery to remove her left front leg following an osteosarcoma, or bone cancer, diagnosis in April 2017.
Research Patient Care Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials
Carlos J. Castro transferred his care to Elizabeth Kessler, MD, University of Colorado Cancer Center member, after learning about a clinical trial that gave him a new treatment option for his stage 4 prostate cancer.
Research Thyroid Cancer Clinical Research Clinical Trials
Tommy Stewart was already a prostate cancer survivor when, during his annual physical in 2004, his physician felt a nodule on his neck.
Research Head and Neck Cancer Clinical Trials
A crucial challenge in cancer research is figuring out how to make immunotherapies more effective, channeling, and selectively guiding the body’s own immune responses in targeting and killing tumors.
Patient Care Lung Cancer Clinical Trials
David Kooyman transferred his care to University of Colorado Cancer Center member and associate professor of thoracic oncology, Tejas Patil, MD, to be part of a clinical trial to help with his rare lung cancer gene fusion.
Research COVID-19 Clinical Trials
The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were an adjustment period for medical professionals across the board, but they brought up particular challenges for the Cancer Clinical Trial Office (CCTO) at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. A number of procedures that used to take place in person or in the office — collecting signatures from patients and doctors, delivering medications, submitting data to trial sponsors — suddenly had to be done in a whole new way.
Research Patient Care Esophageal Cancer Surgical Oncology Clinical Trials
Looking for better ways to treat patients with esophageal cancer, University of Colorado Cancer Center member Martin McCarter, MD, is investigating whether a new treatment sequence will result in better outcomes.
Patient Care Blood Cancer Leukemia Magazine Clinical Trials
Siri Lindley couldn’t swim. She had never learned how and the idea of competing in a triathlon seemed completely out of the question.
Research Head and Neck Cancer Cancer Clinical Trials
Nearly two thousand people living in Colorado will be diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) in 2020. Generally, a very aggressive disease, head and neck cancer require expert care that is not widely available in community cancer clinics. However, patients that are not well-represented in clinical studies, especially Hispanic patients, are less likely to get care from centers that specialize in the disease, such as the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
Child & Adolescent Clinical Trials
Historically, pediatric cancer patients have been much more likely than adult cancer patients to enroll in clinical trials as part of their treatment. Now a study by University of Colorado Cancer Center researchers working at Children’s Hospital Colorado shows pediatric oncology clinical trial enrollment may be down, from 40-70 percent seen in studies completed in the 1990s, to 20-25 percent in the early 2000s, to 19.9 percent in the current study.
Clinical Research Clinical Trials
Tejas Patil, MD, is a medical oncologist. Lisa Ferrigno, MD, MPH, FACS, is a trauma surgeon. Working with lung cancer patients at University of Colorado Cancer Center, they both, independently, noticed something strange: A small percentage of patients taking high doses of the drug osimertinib (Tagrisso) were developing a rare twist in the right side of their colon, a condition called cecal volvulus. Their case series, published in the journal Frontiers in Oncology, describes three of these patients, suggesting that doctors who use osimertinib with EGFR+ non-small cell lung cancer patients may consider watching for rare cases of cecal volvulus along with more expected side effects.
OnKure, Inc. and the University of Colorado Cancer Center announced enrollment of the first patient in a first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial testing investigational anti-cancer agent OKI-179, a novel and Class-selective HDAC inhibitor, in patients with advanced solid tumors. The study represents a milestone in the ongoing partnership between OnKure and the University of Colorado system, with the drug discovery and development company built around basic research from CU Boulder and the clinical trial taking place in partnership with CU Cancer Center on the Anschutz Medical Campus.
When Tyler Robin, MD, PhD, graduates from the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus at the end of June, he won’t have to move far – after graduation, Robin will make the leap from trainee to researcher, joining CU faculty as an assistant professor in the CU School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology where he hopes to be involved with clinical trials testing new uses of radiation as a component of cancer care. A New Investigator Award from the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) and NRG Oncology will help Robin expand the scope of his clinical trial involvement to the national level, while bringing new, innovative clinical trials to cancer patients in Colorado.
Clinical Trials Ovarian Cancer
Patients with recurrent, heavily pretreated ovarian cancer generally have few therapeutic options. Phase 1 clinical trials are considered by some providers as a “last hope.” Historically, there has been concern that there is little clinical benefit to these trials and high concern of toxicity, as these are typically first in human studies. However, these worries may be unnecessary. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago indicates that there are therapeutic benefits for ovarian cancer patients that enroll in Phase 1 clinical trials.
Patient Care Lung Cancer Clinical Trials
Crizotinib and entrectinib are both active against ROS1+ non-small cell lung cancer. But which is best? The answer seems easy: Just compare the drugs’ clinical trial results. However, not all trials are created equal, and these differences in trial designs can lead to irrelevant comparisons – like comparing athletes’ running times without noting that one ran a kilometer while the other ran a mile. Now results from an innovative, “virtual” clinical trial presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2019 attempt to place crizotinib and entrectinib on an equal playing field. In this analysis, patients taking entrectinib were able to stay on treatment longer and had about almost 6 months longer progression-free survival than patients treated with crizotinib.
Patient Care Leukemia Clinical Trials
Clinical trial results published in the journal Nature Medicine show 91 percent response rate to the combination of venetoclax with azacitidine in older adults newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Of 33 patients given combination venetoclax and azacitidine, 20 experienced a complete response (aka complete remission) and eight experienced a complete response but with continued low blood counts. Of the three patients who did not respond to treatment, two discontinued the study before the first week due to personal reasons unrelated to treatment or side-effects.
Patient Care Brain and Spinal Cancer Clinical Trials
Bob Rupp is a drummer. He works with the best musicians in the world and he’s celebrated for his contributions to the music scene in the Metro Area. There is even a day in his honor in the City and County of Denver.
If you have a complex condition, you might have heard the phrase “clinical trial” at some point in your medical journey – if not in a doctor’s office, then perhaps in a news segment or a commercial. Clinical trials are a major part of medical care, treatment, and helping science move forward. So what is a clinical trial?
Gripped
March 27, 2024
Just 18 months after his leukemia diagnosis and on the brink of a bone marrow transplant, Chen defied the odds with an inspiring ascent. Reflecting on his journey, Chen's resilience shines through as he remains optimistic and determined for the future.
EurekAlert
March 06, 2024
Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus found that drugs like botox may slow head and neck cancer progression by targeting nerve interactions in tumor environments, impacting immune responses. This study could lead to new treatments for patients intolerant to traditional therapies.
Mile High Magazine
February 25, 2024
Christopher Lieu, MD speaks on March being Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and the importance of screening.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
February 21, 2024
In 2024, the network will launch a pilot study, known as the Vanguard Study on Multi-Cancer Detection, to address the feasibility of using multi-cancer detection (MCD) tests in future randomized controlled trials.
Greg Glasgow
