Colon Cancer Treatments

A Look at the Treatments Available for Colon Cancer

If you are diagnosed with colon cancer a lot of the treatments, risk factors and survival rates will be determined by the stage of the cancer when it is detected and diagnosed. Even a difference of a couple months can make a lot of difference in how much the cancer has grown, spread and is treatable. There are different treatments available for colon cancer though and three of them are pretty standard. In addition there are always new types of treatments being offered in the form of clinical studies that have not become standard forms of treatment, but if they prove promising they very well may become standard.

The most commonly used treatment for colon cancer is surgery, and this goes for all stages of colon cancer. Surgery is performed to remove the cancerous tissue and possibly some of the healthy tissue around it to eliminate it from the area entirely. This second, and more drastic of the two, types of surgeries with tissue removal is called anastomosis. Once the colon tissue with the cancer is removed, the opposite ends of the colon are then joined together shortening the colon. A third surgery is even more life altering and is known as a colostomy, where an opening is made to the outside of the body where a colostomy bag is attached to collect the waste as it passes through the stoma.

Two other types of surgery are frequently used as well, but do not require cutting or reattaching of the colon at any point. The first type of the two surgeries is known as Cryosurgery and occurs when the cancer tissue is frozen where it is so that it cannot grow or spread. Radiofrequency ablation requires the use of tiny electrodes that are passed into the body through small incisions and used to kill the cancerous tissue.

In addition to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are used as standard forms of treatment for colon cancer. In some cases doctors find it necessary to follow up surgery with chemotherapy or radiation treatments to make absolutely sure that all the cancer cells have been destroyed. Radiation therapy though, consists of using a source of radiation to kill the cancer either externally or internally. When this is done externally, a machine that delivers radiation is used on the body and focuses on the area where the radiation is occurring. If radiation is delivered internally, catheters or wires are used to deliver radiation directly into the cancer or into the area surrounding it.

Like radiation therapy, chemotherapy treatments are very intense for the patient, but it is used because of the high success rates the drugs have in killing cancer. In chemotherapy, drugs are used to reach cancer tissue through the bloodstream, or they are used by placing directly into the area where the cancer is occurring for a better chance at killing the cells. The location and size of the cancer will determine which type of chemotherapy treatment is used by the doctors.

Clinical therapy is another treatment option, but this choice is extremely varied and it is up to a doctor to determine if a patient is able to undergo the treatments used for the therapy. There are also several different requirements that all patients must meet so getting into a clinical therapy is not always a guaranteed thing.