Colon Cancer Treatment
Colon cancer, or cancer of the cells of the colon, is hardly a disease that catches anyone by surprise. It is very rare that this cancer is detected during routine examination in an otherwise healthy, symptom free individual. The reason behind this is that many patients of colon cancer have been suffering from some or the other disease or symptom on a generally long term, though not unusually, short term period. A cancer of the colon is, more often than not, preceded by symptoms of ‘tummy trouble’ like bloating, acidity, indigestion, lethargy, nausea, anorexia (a feeling when one does not feel hungry or is even repulsed by food, to be differentiated from anorexia nervosa, which is a psychological disorder and has hardly anything to do with the physiological functioning of the gut) and most importantly, pain.
Therefore, one must pay careful attention to the signs and symptoms with which our body is trying to signal to us that something is not right. Too often people tend to take stomach trouble lightly, and use self doctoring techniques like antacids, over the counter pills and herbal infusions, till one day they encounter acute symptoms like severe pain and/or blood in the stools or in vomit. Unfortunately, this might be an advanced stage of the cancer, and the doctors might not be able to do too much to help.
In any case the first and the most important step in treatment of any disease, particularly of a rapidly advancing and spreading disease like cancer, is TIMELY DIAGNOSIS. For this it is important that one is regular with one’s annual or semi annual health check ups, especially if one leads a highly stressful and erratic lifestyle, has a family history of any type of cancer, or is a frequent drinker (of alcohol, what else).
Once diagnosis is confirmed, an oncologist is consulted who can then officially go for the staging and grading process of the cancer, which determines the extent of spread of the cancer and also the severity. Staging and grading of the cancer is a vital step, as it is helpful in treatment planning, choosing the correct treatment methodology or methodologies and can also help in adequate patient preparation.
Treatment depends upon stage.
Early Stage
An endoscopy or a colonoscopy is generally employed, though a biopsy is a must. If the growth is minute, the colonoscopic examination can double up as an excisional surgical removal of the same. Polypectomy is the similar removal of a cancerous polyp on the gut lining. A laparoscopic surgery can also be employed for larger polyps.
Later or advanced stages
This is when surgery becomes more invasive, and is called surgical resection. The surgery is performed under general anesthesia. The cancerous tissue along with a margin of healthy tissue is resected or ‘cut away’ to leave healthy tissue which is sutured together.
Surgery is often combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which are also used without surgical intervention in a few cases.