There are different ways to treat colorectal cancer,
including the following:
- Surgery to remove the cancer. This is the most common treatment for colorectal cancer.
- Chemotherapy, which means using anticancer drugs to
kill cancer cells throughout the body. Your doctor may prescribe one or more chemotherapy
drugs.
- Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, which means
using X rays to kill cancer cells.
- Immunotherapy, or biological therapy, which means that
the body’s own immune system (which fights off infections and other illnesses) is
made to recognize cancer cells and works to eliminate them.
You may get one or more of these treatments, depending on what your doctor identifies
after you have been thoroughly examined and all test results have been reviewed.
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Surgery
Surgery is known as a local therapy because it treats the cancer cells in the colon
and/or rectum and the areas close to the tumor. Surgical
removal of the cancer is the most common treatment
for colorectal cancer. Your physician will make
treatment recommendation that best match your personal situation.
Key factors that will affect this decision include the following:
- Whether the cancer is located in the colon or rectum
- The staging
of the cancer
- The risk and benefits of the treatment
Depending on the stage of the tumor, surgery techniques can range from a
polypectomy, to a local excision, to
resection surgery. A
segmental resection
is the most commonly performed operation for the treatment
of colorectal cancer.
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Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a type
of
systemic therapy
because it enters the bloodstream and can affect cells all over the body. One or
more chemotherapy drugs can be given, and chemotherapy can be combined with surgery,
radiation therapy or both.
- Chemotherapy after surgery, called
adjuvant therapy
, may be given to destroy remaining cancer cells missed by surgery.
- Depending on the stage of cancer, as many as 70% to 85% of colon cancer patients
treated with chemotherapy following surgery are alive and disease-free after 4 years.
- Medications and additional therapies are now available to reduce or prevent some common side effects associated with chemotherapy, including nausea, fever and infections.
Learn more about a chemotherapy
treatment by sanofi-aventis.
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Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is a colorectal cancer treatment
that is also a local therapy because the high-energy rays only target cells in the
treated area. In patients with colon cancer, radiation
therapy is often used to kill the cancer cells that remain after surgery. The two
main types of radiation therapy are:
- External radiation, which comes from a machine outside the body
- Internal radiation, which comes from radioactive material inside thin tubes or pellets
placed directly next to or in the tumor
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Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy, also know as biologic therapy or biotherapy, utilizes a person’s
own immune system as an agent to treat colorectal cancer. This type of treatment
uses substances naturally made by the body or recreated in a laboratory, to increase,
direct and/or repair the body’s natural defense against cancer.
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