The fatal characteristics of colon cancer tend to go underappreciated. Or they get overshadowed by cancers of the breast, lung or prostate. But make no mistake, colon cancer is an efficient killer.
Looking at the National Cancer Institute's SEER statistics for cancers of the colon and rectum is rather sobering. The NCI estimates that the disease will strike over 143,000 people in the United States this year, and that it will kill almost 52,000.
The median age at diagnosis for this cancer is 69, and the median age at death is 74. Like virtually all cancers, the earlier it is diagnosed, the better the odds of being treated successfully. Five years after diagnosis of early stage colon cancer gives patients almost a 90 percent chance at a successful treatment. Even if the disease has spread to regional nodes, there is still a 70 percent chance.
However, if the disease is not diagnosed until it has metastasized, the percentages dive down to about 11 percent. That's lower than the survival rates for metastatic breast and prostate cancers.
Getting treated early is clearly a key. The following are the treatment options for colon cancer.
Surgical Procedures
Surgical procedures for colon cancer include a colonoscopy, which uses a flexible tube inserted into the rectum and into the colon for examination but which can remove pre-cancerous polyps.
Laparoscopy also uses a tube inserted into the abdomen to remove tumors and some of the tissue surrounding them.
And of course major surgery, in which doctors go into the colon by way of incision and remove the tumor and surrounding tissue. Across all cancers, surgery remains the treatment modality with the highest cure rate. Early-stage colon cancers are often treated with a colectomy, which removes the tumor, the affected part of the colon and the nearby lymph nodes.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy may be used to shrink tumors in the colon or it may be used as adjuvant therapy following surgery or chemotherapy to kill any remaining tumor cells.
Combination Chemotherapy
Combination chemotherapy regimens for later-stage colon cancers include FOLFIRI along with FOLFOX. In addition to these two, there are two less commonly used regimens known as CapeOX and FOLFOXIRI. All such regimens tend to serve as adjuvant therapy following surgical intervention.
Targeted Treatments
Metastatic colon cancer has few treatment options, but sometimes doctors use newly designed drugs that include Avastin, Erbitux and Zaltrap.
