American researchers say that the risk of colorectal cancer is high for patients who have flat lesions that are easily overlooked by colonoscopy.

Flat, nonpolypoid colorectal tumors appear to be common and may develop into cancer compared to those most routinely diagnosed type of colorectal polyps. Flat lesions are hard to find and blend with surrounding healthy tissues

Hormone replacement therapy continues to increase the risk of cancer long after a woman stops treatment, a new study has revealed. The first follow-up of a landmark study of hormone use after menopause also shows there was a decrease in the heart problems linked with the pills.

The government study found that women who'd taken estrogen-progestin pills for about five years were more prone to lung cancers than who had not. Women who'd taken hormones but stopped were 24 percent more likely to develop any kind of cancer than women who'd taken dummy pills during the study

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the Genentech drug Avastin for women with advanced breast cancer. By doing so, the FDA went against the recommendation of its advisory panel that judged the effectiveness of Avastin.

Avastin is already approved for treating lung and colon cancer, based on findings that it slowed tumor growth but does not help in patient survival. The ruling prompted a mixed reaction from both doctors and advocates for breast-cancer patients

Genentech's anti-cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab), when combined with standard chemotherapy, was proven to slow the progression of breast cancer in a new clinical trial conducted by Roche.

The study includes patients with metastatic breast cancer who never underwent prior treatment. Results revealed that patients who received Avastin in combination with chemotherapy had a longer time period before their cancer progressed as compared to patients who simply had chemotherapy

A large-scale study of over 55,000 colorectal cancer patients found that Medicare beneficiaries in "high spending" areas get better care in some circumstances, but worse care in others. The findings show that on average patients in higher spending areas do no better than their peers in lower spending areas.

"In certain cases the increased spending is beneficial," says Mary Beth Landrum, a professor of health care policy at the Harvard Medical School and lead author on the study that will be published in the January/February issue of Health Affairs. "The focus should not simply be on cost containment, but rather on targeting care to the patients who we know will benefit