As many as 69% of colon cancer patients in a single study say they turned to the internet and other media outlets for information on their diagnosis.  These media-educated patients get better treatment and newer medications, both of which improves their medical outcomes, than those who rely strictly on information supplied by their healthcare providers.

The study, led by Dr. Stacy Gray, of Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, involved 633 colon cancer patients identified in the Pennsylvania Cancer Registry.  Researchers were looking especially for patients taking two of the newer colon cancer drugs - Avastin (bevacizumab) and Erbitux (cetuximab).

Patients researching their diagnosis were about 2.8 times more likely to say they’d heard of these treatments than those who did no research and the researching patients were 3.2 times more likely to actually use these treatments.

These two drugs are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use only in advanced cases of colon cancer but patients who researched them often got them even when their cancer diagnosis came at an early stage for which the drugs are not approved.  It is unclear whether the patients getting these medications researched them after beginning treatment using them or if they researched in advance and requested these treatment options.

The study targeted only colon cancer patients but Gray suggests patients with other types of cancer, as well as many other medical conditions, are likely to do similar research.  She urges caution, however, about the source of the information a patient gets.

There are many sources of high-quality, reliable medical information on the internet but there are also many that should not be trusted.  Gray recommends the National Cancer Institute, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Cancer Society as reputable sources of cancer information and suggests patients with other illnesses rely on web sites maintained by the foundation or association devoted to the particular illness, such as the American Heart Association for heart diseases.