Active clinical trials for "Colonic Neoplasms"

The investigators are creating a data and specimen repository to study causes , early detection, prevention and treatment of colon and rectal cancer. The investigators are collecting data and specimens (blood, stool, urine and tissue) from people who have colon or rectal cancer, or who are risk for developing colorectal cancer or had normal colonoscopies. Data and samples are held in the repository until there are enough to be used for a large study or until there are new techniques that can be used to test them. The GI SPORE Program at the University of Michigan maintains a repository of specimens for colorectal diseases that the investigators hope will help fuel new research. The investigators hope that this work may lead to new treatments or earlier detection of colorectal cancer or improved diagnosis and treatment of other colon and rectal diseases.

This study evaluates the ability of endoscopists to perform a complete optical diagnosis of colorectal polyps between 5 and 15 mm, and the impact of the only endoscopic diagnosis on the follow-up program for those patients. This is a prospective study in which we compare the diagnosis regarding size and histology made by the endoscopist versus de pathologic diagnosis.

This proposal seeks to further understand the contribution of the PIK3CA mutations in colon cancer, by correlating the type of hotspot mutation with the development of metastases in stage II and stage Ill patients. In order to do this, DNA will be extracted from either frozen or paraffin embedded colon cancer tissues to sequence PIK3CA, KRAS and BRAF. Clinical outcome data will be gathered to include metastases and survival to correlate with PIK3CA, KRAS and BRAF mutational status. Patients with stage II and stage Ill colon cancers will be identified in the University of New Mexico Human Tissue Repository and the NIH PLCO prevention trial biorepository. Existing banked tissues of stage II and Ill colon cancers will be collected. There will be no direct contact with living individuals. Epidemiological factors such as age, race, gender and outcome data of metastases and survival will be collected.

The investigators will conduct pre-implementations assessments of primary care clinics within a rural health system to determine current practices and capacities regarding colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and follow-up, preferred evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to improve follow-up, and factors that could influence successful implementation and eventual impact of a multi-level intervention to increase timely and complete follow-up after positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) in rural patients.

More than 20% of patients operated on for colon cancer without node metastasis will develop visceral metastases. The purpose of the study is to determine sentinel lymph nodes with two methods: blue injection and isotopic detection. Sentinel nodes will then be analyzed by immunohistochemy to detect micrometastases. No adjuvant therapy will be proposed to the patient if there are only node's micrometastases and survival will be analyzed in regard to the presence of these micrometastasis.

In order to explore genetic factors that may determine the neurotoxicity of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, germinal gene polymorphisms will be analyzed.

The purpose of this study is to look at the importance of L-Arginine in the digestive tract. L-Arginine is an amino acid and is important in making proteins within the cell. The evaluation of colon tissue, blood, urine, diet, health history, and symptoms will help us learn more about L-Arginine and ulcerative colitis. The investigators believe these studies will provide new insights into the treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (ulcerative colitis) and nutritional needs. The investigators plan to enroll 200 participants in this study over the next two years.

This research study will assess cruciferous vegetable intake in patients presenting for screening colonoscopy and correlate intake with histone status and histone deacetylace (HDAC) expression in tissue biopsy specimens and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The investigators will also measure sulforaphane (SFN) metabolites in blood as a biomarker of cruciferous vegetable intake.

This study will determine whether a new diagnostic test called the Cell Search Assay can detect circulating colon cancer cells in patients who have had surgery for colon cancer and had visible cancer removed. Other parts of the study will look at whether the presence of the circulating tumor cells in blood predicts whether a patient will have their colon cancer return.

The objective of this study is to obtain blood samples, solid tumor and/or benign hyperplasia samples to learn more about genetic differences that are linked to the formation of solid tumors.