Different Approaches to Colon Cancer Treatment

Colon cancer is a disease that affects the colon, absorbs nutrients from food, and stores and removes stools. The colon has two parts, the colon and the rectum. Colon cancer occurs when tumors appear in the colon and rectum. These tumors can be malignant, and in this case they are harmless and they can be removed with simple, boring surgery. Beningn tumor is a cancerous tumor that can spread and cause life-threatening complications. If you have been diagnosed with a colon tumor, you must begin treatment for colon cancer as soon as possible because if the disease is not treated, it can spread to other organs such as the liver and lungs.

There are three methods of treating colon cancer - through surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Colon cancer surgery is the most widely used method for treating the disease. In colon cancer surgery, the colon that has the tumor and the infected tissue is removed, and the other parts of the intestine are re-stitched. Lately, colon cancer surgery is performed with the help of an instrument called laparoscope, which allows doctors to operate through very small abdominal spasms, leaving only minor scars.

Radiation therapy is a treatment that involves the use of high energy rays that can kill cancer cells. The advantage of this method is that it can also kill cancer cells that have been spread and have not been detected.

Radiation therapy is required when the cancer has spread to other organs and surgery cannot be performed there.

The bad part of radiation therapy is that it has side effects that include diarrhea, fatigue or bladder irritation.

Chemotherapy uses a special anti-cancer drug injected into the patient's bloodstream and spreads throughout the body, killing all cancer cells. This type of therapy is used when the cancer has spread to many places and surgical or radiation therapy cannot cover such a large area. Unfortunately chemotherapy has the worst side effects. The most common are hair loss, loss of appetite, fatigue, bruising and bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea.

The method used and survival rates depend on what stage of colon cancer developed at the time of treatment. In the first stage, the survival rate exceeds 90%, in the second 70%, in the third 60%, and in the fourth down to about 8%. That's why it's important to pay attention to symptoms and start treatment as soon as possible.

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