Background. The effect of aspirin use on 490 patients with cancer of the colon, 340 with cancer of the rectum as the first primary site, and 212 patients with polyps having no coexisting malignancies was compared with that of two groups of control subjects that consisted of 524 hospital patients having no cancers and no diseases of the digestive organs and 1138 healthy visitors to the screening clinic. All subjects entered Roswell Park Cancer Institute between 1982 and 1991. Methods. After adjustment for adulthood lifetime duration of aspirin use, sex, age, residence, and education, the risk of having cancers and polyps of the colon or the rectum among people who had been using aspirin at least for 1 year before the illness relative to that of nonusers was estimated using multiple logistic regression procedure. Results. The odds ratio estimates showed that the risk of colorectal cancers declined progressively as the frequency of aspirin use increased compared with control groups. Among patients reporting use of aspirin two or more times a day, the odds ratio estimates for colorectal cancers were 0.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72–0.15) and 0.44 (95% CI, 1.10–0.18) compared with those of screening clinic visitors and hospital control subjects, respectively. The odds ratio for patients with polyps who had used aspirin less than once a day relative to that of nonusers was 0.28 (95% CI, 0.62–0.13) and 0.43 (95% CI, 1.09–0.17) compared with screening clinic visitors and hospital control subjects, respectively. Conclusions. There is a risk reduction effect of aspirin use on the incidence of colorectal cancers and polyps, and this effect is dose related.

Background. This study examined the association between cigarette smoking status and the development of lung metastases in a group of 835 women diagnosed with primary malignant unilateral breast cancer. Method. Female patients with breast cancer diagnosed between 1982 and 1991 at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in Buffalo, New York, who provided information on their cigarette smoking history at the time of their diagnosis were included. The subsequent disease status of patients was monitored by the RPCI Tumor Registry. The Cox regression model was used to estimate the relationship between smoking status and the development of lung metastases, adjusting for the patient's age, stage of disease at diagnosis, and body weight. Results. Of those patients who developed lung metastases, 8.7% were nonsmokers, 14.1% were former smokers, and 14.3% were current smokers. Tests showed that nonsmokers had significantly fewer lung metastases than either of the two smoking groups (P < 0.01). The estimated relative rates of lung metastases developing adjusting for age, stage, and body weight in women who smoked less than 10,000, between 10,001 and 20,000, and more than 20,000 packs over their lifetimes compared with non–smokers were 1.06 (95% CI, 0.51‐2.20), 3.10 (95% CI, 1.5‐6.3), and 3.73 (95% CI, 1.6‐8.9) respectively. The Cox regression model showed that every 1000 packs of cigarettes consumed over a lifetime increased a woman's risk of developing lung metastases by about 3% to 7% (P < 0.001). Conclusion. This study found a significant association between cigarette smoking history and risk of lung metastases developing in women diagnosed with primary invasive unilateral breast cancer. The risk of lung metastases developing increased as the number of cigarettes smoked in a lifetime increased. Cancer 1995;75:2693–9.

This study demonstrates and confirms characteristics that have been described in HNPCC. Namely, early age of onset of colorectal cancer, right-sided predominance, multiple synchronous and metachronous neoplasms, increased extracolonic cancers, and generational anticipation.

The charts of 168 patients with malignant melanoma were reviewed with regard to the incidence of the major blood groups. Blood group A was encountered in 39.9%, Group B in 7.7%, Group AB in 3%, and Group O in 49.4%. Although blood group O had a higher frequency compared to that of the general white population of various series, the difference was not significant. Patients with blood group A had a median survival of 67.7 months whereas patients with blood group O had a median survival of 46.6 months (p = 0.04). The improved survival for blood group A remained significant only in female patients, when the sexes were considered separately. However, group A had an incidence of 24% in early Clark's lesions while that incidence in group O was 9.8%. Female patients had longer median survival (86 months) than male patients (44 months).

A retrospective review of 483 women who had metastatic breast cancer and were treated between 1942 and 1975 was carried out to examine the effects of improving and aggressive palliative modalities on patient survival. There was a steady increase in the proportion of patients treated by chemotherapy and/or hormonal ablative therapy. Additive hormonal therapy, irradiation, and surgery for palliation decreased in frequency during the same period. Survival time from the first recurrence did not appear to increase in these patients over the period of this study. In spite of increasingly sophisticated palliative therapies, the survival time of patients with metastasis did not appear to be significantly prolonged.