After completing this course, the reader will be able to:1. Identify reported differences between advanced colorectal cancer patients treated in community oncology clinics and those enrolled in clinical trials.2. Describe gaps in the existing evidence for the treatment of elderly advanced colorectal cancer patients.3. Describe the need for improving tools to appropriately select patients for treatment.This article is available for continuing medical education credit at CME.TheOncologist.com. CME CME ABSTRACTBackground. The clinical trials on which the treatment of advanced colorectal (CRC) is based enroll few elderly patients. Furthermore, few investigations have determined the use and outcomes of the treatment of advanced CRC in practice. This study evaluated the treatment of advanced CRC in community oncology practices, focusing on age-related differences in treatment and outcome.

BACKGROUND:Intravenous forms of proton pump inhibitors (IV PPI) are routinely used for patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding, but a significant concern for their inappropriate use has been suggested.PATIENTS and METHODS:All consecutive patients who received IV PPI (pantoprazole) over 20 months in six Canadian hospitals were reviewed. Prescribing practices, endoscopic findings and outcomes were recorded.RESULTS:A total of 854 patients received IV PPI. Over 90% of patients were given IV PPI for treatment of known or suspected active upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Most patients (69%) underwent upper endoscopy, and 58% of these patients had peptic ulcer disease (PUD). The majority of patients who had endoscopy (57%) had IV PPI administered in advance of the procedure. Of the 334 patients who had IV PPI given in advance, 46 (13.8%) were found to have high risk bleeding PUD stigmata at endoscopy. The remaining 288 patients (86.2%) with advance IV PPI had low-risk PUD lesions or non-PUD lesions; IV PPI was continued after endoscopy in 164 (56.9%) of these patients.CONCLUSIONS:IV PPI is often used before endoscopy in suspected upper gastrointestinal bleed and maintained, regardless of endoscopic findings, after the endoscopy in many Canadian centres. Further study is required to support these clinical practices.

We describe a technique of magnetic coil (MC) stimulation of the thoracic spinal nerves and roots in 12 normal subjects and a patient with diabetes mellitus. We kept the MC flat against the vertebral column in the midline over T-7, T-8, and T-9 spinous processes and obtained compound muscle action potentials from the upper rectus abdominis, external oblique, and intercostal muscles. We obtained mean latencies to these muscles after stimulation in the posterior axillary line. We noted that the onset latencies remained fixed despite increasing the intensity of stimulation from 30% to 100% and on moving the coil up to 3 cm lateral to the spinous processes suggesting that the stimulation of the fastest conducting fibers was occurring at a fixed site, most likely at the intervertebral foramina. Prolonged latencies in the diabetic patient confirmed the diagnosis of radiculoneuropathy.

IV PPI infusions before endoscopy may lower the proportion of actively bleeding peptic ulcer lesions at endoscopy, but this finding does not appear to affect rates of rebleeding, surgery or death.