Colon Cancer Treatment

Colon Cancer Treatments

There are currently several standard treatments available for colon cancer as well as treatments in clinical trials.

The most common treatment is surgical removal of the cancer. A local excision is used if the cancer is in an early stage. If the cancer is larger, a resection is used. If the surgeon is not able to sew the two parts of the colon back together, a colostomy is performed, in which an opening is made on the outside of the body for waste to pass through.

Other surgical procedures used include radiofrequency ablation in which electrodes are used to kill cancer cells and cryosurgery which freezes and destroys abnormal tissue.

Chemotherapy which uses chemicals to kill cancer and radiation therapy which uses x-rays and other forms of radiation to kill cancer are often used in tandem.

One treatment currently in clinical trials is biologic therapy. This treatment, also known as immunotherapy uses substances found in the body and produced in the lab to enhance the patient's immune system's ability to fight colon cancer.