Colon Cancer Chemotherapy, Treatment of Cancer

Colon Cancer Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is another colon cancer treatment option that may be used. Chemotherapy uses anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells. It is called systemic therapy because it enters the bloodstream and can affect cancer cells throughout the body.
The patient may have chemotherapy alone or combined with surgery, radiation therapy, or both. Chemotherapy given before surgery is called neoadjuvant therapy. Chemotherapy before surgery may shrink a large tumor.

Chemotherapy after surgery is called adjuvant therapy. Adjuvant therapy is used to destroy any remaining cancer cells and prevent the cancer from coming back in the colon or rectum, or elsewhere.
Chemotherapy is also used as a treatment for people with advanced colon cancer.
Anticancer drugs are usually given through a vein, but some also may be given by mouth. The patient may be treated in an outpatient part of the hospital, at the doctor's office, or at home. Rarely, a hospital stay may be needed.
When a section of the colon is removed as part of the colon cancer treatment process, the surgeon can usually reconnect the healthy parts. However, sometimes reconnection is not possible. In this case, the surgeon creates a new path for waste to leave the body. The surgeon makes an opening (a stoma) in the wall of the abdomen, connects the upper end of the intestine to the stoma, and closes the other end. The operation to create the stoma is called a colostomy. A flat bag fits over the stoma to collect waste, and a special adhesive holds it in place.
For most people who have a colostomy, it is temporary. It is needed only until the colon or rectum heals from surgery. After healing takes place, the surgeon reconnects the parts of the intestine and closes the stoma. Some people, especially those with a tumor in the lower rectum, need a permanent colostomy.