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Treatment of colon cancer

by — Last updated: 2022-09-25 in Healthy Living

Table of Contents

Unfortunately, most of the time we give little thought to the idea that we may be setting ourselves up for colon cancer. All the time, we do just what we shouldn’t - we don't drink enough water, or eat the right food.

 

Surgery

Surgery is the most effective treatment option for colon in many cases. There are several types:

Curative surgery is best done very early, while the cancer is still within a polyp. An operation of removal is called a polypectomy. A case of colon cancer that has spread beyond the binderies of a polyp requires surgical removal of the section of colon containing the tumor with sufficient margins, and radical resection of local lymph nodes to reduce local recurrence.

Palliative, or “non-curative” surgery is usually done in the case of multiple metastases (meaning the cancer has spread beyond its point of origin), when a resection of the primary tumor is the only choice in order to reduce further morbidity caused by tumor bleeding, invasion, and its catabolic effect.

Bypass Surgery or fecal diversion: In cases when the tumor has invaded nearby vital structures, surgeons may prefer to bypass the tumor because the metastases make excision technically difficult or even completely impossible.

Chemotherapy

Although surgery is the most effective type of colon cancer treatment, chemotherapy can also be extremely helpful. It is used to reduce the risk of metastasis developing, shrink tumor size, or to slow tumor growth.

Chemotherapy is sometimes done before and sometimes after surgery. We can divide it into several types:

  • after surgery (adjuvant)
  • before surgery (neo-adjuvant
  • as the primary therapy if surgery is not indicated (palliative)

Some of the most commonly used medications in chemotherapy for colon cancer and, which have also been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration are:

  • 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or Capecitabine
  • Leucovorin (LV, Folinic Acid)
  • Irinotecan (Camptosar®)
  • Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin®)
  • Bevacizumab (Avastin®)
  • Cetuximab (Erbitux®)
  • Panitumumab (Vectibix)
  • Bortezomib (Velcade®)
  • Oblimersen (Genasense®, G3139)
  • Gefitinib and Erlotinib (Tarceva®)
  • Topotecan (Hycamtin®)

Radiation therapy

Radiotherapy is not used routinely in colon cancer, as it could lead to radiation enteritis, and is difficult to target specific portions of the colon. It is more common for radiation to be used in rectal cancer, since the rectum does not move as much as the colon and is thus easier to target.

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