PHILADELPHIA (February 27, 2003)—It crosses racial, ethnic and gender lines. It takes the lives of more than 50,000 Americans a year. Yet, it's one of the most easily treatable cancers when detected early. It's colorectal cancer … and Tenet HealthSystem affiliated hospitals are helping to educate the community about this sometimes deadly disease.

Several area Tenet affiliated hospitals—Graduate Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital and Roxborough Memorial Hospital—are participating in programs to educate the Philadelphia-area community about colorectal cancer and the importance of early detection. Two additional hospitals, Elkins Park Hospital and Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital, are offering free at-home colorectal cancer screening kits to those who call in while supplies last.

Nearly 150,000 people in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year. Early detection and treatment may significantly reduce the risks from colorectal cancer and improve patient outcomes. When found in its earliest stage and treated promptly, colorectal cancer has a relative five-year survival rate of 91%.

The select hospitals are holding lectures and/or screenings during the month of March. Hospital lecture attendees will receive an at-home ColoCare fecal occult blood screening kit. A fecal occult blood test helps doctors look for hidden (occult) blood in the stool. You take the kit home, obtain stool specimens and return the test to the hospital for analysis.

Risk factors for colorectal cancer include: family history, aging, diet, lack of exercise, obesity and smoking.

The American Cancer Society recommends that screenings begin for most adults at age 50. Adults who are age 50 or older should have a fecal occult blood test every year. Cancer screening guidelines also recommend that adults have a flexible sigmoidoscopy and digital rectal exam every five years. These tests may be performed in your doctor's office. Your doctor uses a flexible, lighted tube, a fiberoptic sigmoidoscope, to look inside the rectum and lower colon. A digital rectal exam involves your doctor inserted a gloved finger into the rectum to feel for abnormalities.

Another test that can be used to detect colorectal cancer is a colonoscopy. This test, which is similar to a sigmoidoscopy, looks at the entire colon. Often the colonoscopy is done in the outpatient department of a hospital. Your doctor also may order a barium enema which uses contrast material (barium) for X-rays of the intestines.

Registration is required for all lectures and screenings. [Screenings and lectures listed below.]

Tenet HealthSystem Pennsylvania includes Elkins Park Hospital, Graduate Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital, Parkview Hospital, Roxborough Memorial Hospital, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and Warminster Hospital.

Tenet HealthSystem Pennsylvania is affiliated with Tenet Healthcare Corporation, which through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 114 acute care hospitals with 27,851 beds and numerous related health care services. The company employs approximately 114,300 people serving communities in 16 states and services its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center. Tenet's name reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values among partners—including employees, physicians, insurers and communities—in providing a full spectrum of health care. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.

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Graduate Hospital Lecture

 "Colorectal Cancer: Early Detection May Save Lives"
Speaker: Deborah Nagle, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery
Location: Graduate Hospital Auditorium
Date: Thursday, March 6, 2003
Time: 6 to 8 p.m.
Registration is required. Call 1-877-7-GRAD-4-U to register.