Colon Cancer Treatment

Treatment for colon cancer depends on the type, size, location, and stage of your cancer. Which colon cancer treatment may work best for you? Learn more.

You have various options to treat colorectal cancer. Which colon cancer treatment might work best for you depends on several factors. They include the type, size, location, and stage of your cancer. Factors also include your age, overall health, and what side effects you’ll find acceptable.

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Radiation therapy for colon cancer

Radiation therapy is a major part of treatment for rectal cancers. It’s also sometimes used as a treatment for colon cancers. Reasons for radiation include:

• To shrink your tumor before surgery
• After surgery if the cancer has spread to other internal organs or other areas of your body
• To kill remaining cancer cells following surgery
• Use with chemotherapy if you aren’t healthy enough for surgery
• To ease symptoms of advanced cancer

Chemotherapy for colon cancer

Chemotherapy (chemo) uses anticancer medicines to kill cancer cells. The medicines attempt to attack and kill cancer cells, which grow quickly. Some normal cells also grow quickly. Because of this, chemotherapy can also harm those cells and can cause side effects. 

Adjuvant therapy after surgery for colon cancer

After surgery for colorectal cancer, many people worry that cancer might come back. Research has shown that chemotherapy after surgery, sometimes along with radiation therapy, may reduce the risk of cancer returning in some people.

Targeted therapy for colon cancer

Targeted therapy medicines attack specific proteins or cell functions that help cancer cells grow. Like chemotherapy, the medicines work throughout your body, but in different ways. This means they can sometimes be helpful even if chemotherapy isn’t working.

The therapy mainly targets cancer cells. The side effects are often different and less severe than those you might experience from chemotherapy.

Surgery for colon cancer

There are several different types of surgical procedures that can remove part or all of your colon or rectum:

• Hemicolectomy, partial colectomy, and segmental resection remove only part of your colon. Your surgeon will take out the part of the colon with cancer, along with a small section on either side of the tumor.
• A total colectomy, removal of your entire colon, occurs less often, usually when you have many polyps or inflammatory bowel disease.
• Your doctor may place a stent if your colon is blocked.
• If a tumor has created a hole in your colon, you will need a colostomy, in which the top end of your colon is attached to an opening in the skin of your abdomen, called a stoma, so your waste can leave your body.
• An ileostomy occurs when the end of your colon is attached to a stoma.

Treatment questions to ask your doctor

Talking with your healthcare providers about cancer can be overwhelming. It can be hard to take in all of the information. It helps to be prepared. Ask how successful your treatment is expected to be, and what the risks and possible side effects are.  

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