Welcome to another #CTUinCT post!
You can find last week’s post on the link below:
COLONTOWN University is the educational branch of COLONTOWN and can be found on the button bellow:
This week, let’s get into a bit of detail on things you need to know.
First let’s look at staging.
I like this table as it is uncomplicated and easy to remember.
Why is knowing the stage of your tumor important?
As you may have noticed, the treatment you get varies with the stage of your cancer.
And here’s a fun conversation on staging between my son & me a few years ago.
Next we look at biomarkers.
First up is MSS or MicroSatellite Stable and MSI-H or MicroSatellite Instable-High.
I hate it when I hear people say MSI-Stable for MSS. Makes it so much more confusing.
So what do all these words and acronyms really mean?
Let’s look at that today.
If there’s one thing that you must absolutely know about your tumor (besides stage), it is whether your tumor is MSS or MSI-H.
If anyone reading this does not know this information about their tumor, it’s good to find this out.
The vast majority–85% of all CRC is MSS– but if your tumor is MSI-H (15% of all CRC), knowing this can mean a world of difference for you.
If your tumor is MSI-H, immunotherapy, or to be more specific, check-point inhibitors are an option for you. They are much different from chemo and have very different side effect profiles. With stage IV or metastatic colorectal cancer that is MSI-H, immunotherapy can be quite miraculous and melt away the tumors in about 50% of patients.
If by chance you have non-metastatic rectal cancer and your tumor is MSI-H and you didn’t know– that could mean the difference between getting immunotherapy and complete disappearance of the tumor OR having to deal with chemo, chemo-radiation, surgery and most likely an ostomy. We have a few members in COLONTOWN who realized the importance of this & were able to act quickly so they could get immunotherapy and be spared from the side effects of chemo, chemo-RT and surgery.
So if you are newly diagnosed or have been dealing with colorectal cancer for some time, it’s very important to know whether your tumor is MSS or MSI-H.
The MSI-H status of your tumor affects your treatments, outcome, and in some cases the risk of developing other cancers for you and for your family.
How many of you know your colorectal cancer stage & whether your tumor is MSS or MSI-H?
Were you told this at diagnosis? When did you find this out? Tell us in the comments below.
#ToScience! #ToLife!
— Dr. George