Live Life Team
Colon cancer treatment options vary by the stage of cancer, location, and damage or spread of cancerous cells.
Regular screening is highly recommended for older adults and those with heightened risk factors, and a suspicious-looking polyp may sometimes be removed during these screenings. Eliminating pre-cancerous cells is one of the best approaches available, and boasts much more positive prognoses than latter stage treatments.
For patients with an early-stage form of colon cancer, surgery is the first course of treatment. As much as possible, cancerous growths and some surrounding tissue will be removed. If the growth is small, the effects from this treatment might be very minimal, but in other cases the colon may need to be resectioned or diverted to a synthetic waste system. A colostomy bag may be used temporarily to support healing of the colon, or may be required permanently in cases where too much of the colon was impacted by cancerous growths to remain functional.
In later stages of colon cancer, surgery may also be used to remove lymph nodes, other organs, and tissue affected by cancer. However, in other cases surgery may not be effective in eliminating cancerous cells, and is used solely to treat symptoms and support quality of life.
Other treatments include chemotherapy, in which drugs destroy cancerous cells, and radiation therapy, which uses energy sources such as X-rays to shrink tumours, reduce symptoms, or kill cancer cells.
Targeted drugs are a newer treatment that is still being investigated and optimized, and are usually only given to patients with advanced stages of cancer. Immunotherapy is also used with patients in later stages of colon cancer, and targets tumours with antibodies. These treatments are not considered a first line of defence.
Finally, supportive or palliative care is the colon cancer treatment option for those with advanced stage cancer, a poor prognosis, or who have elected to decline other forms of treatment. It provides relief from pain and symptoms as much as possible and focuses on making the patient comfortable.
Colon cancer treatment options are more effective and result in better prognoses the earlier they are used, making regular early screening and diligent reporting of symptoms to doctors the most valuable thing you can do to improve your outcomes.
