For years, the nerve damage suffered by colorectal cancer survivors was quietly folded into the ledger of treatment's costs — a toll attributed to chemotherapy, to radiation, to the necessary violence of cure. New research conducted in mice and rhesus macaques now challenges that assumption, revealing that the tumor itself may ignite inflammation in the peripheral nervous system long before any therapy begins. The finding asks us to reconsider not only how we understand cancer's reach, but how early we must begin watching over those who carry it.
Colorectal cancer triggers nerve inflammation in mice and primates, study finds
Colorectal cancer survivors face increased risk of developing peripheral neuropathy and chronic pain, potentially affecting quality of life and functional mobility.