GI Oncology at GBMC

There are different types of treatment for patients with colon cancer. Surgery, the most common treatment for all stages of colon cancer, removes the cancer using one of several types of surgery depending on the cancer’s progress. After the cancer is removed, surgeons perform an anastomosis (sew the healthy parts of the colon together), resection of the colon through a colostomy (creation of a stoma, an outside opening, with a bag placed around the stoma to collect the waste), radiofrequency ablation (uses a special probe to kill cancer cells), cryosurgery (freezes or destroys abnormal tissues), chemotherapy or radiation therapy after surgery (which may be given to kill any remaining cancer cells or keep them from growing).

Other types of treatment are being tested in clinical trials. Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Follow-up tests may be needed. Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may need to be repeated. The appropriate tests will be ordered to see how well the treatment is working, as well as to make decisions about whether to continue, change or stop treatment. Follow-up tests will also continue from time to time after treatment to make sure cancer has not recurred. After treatment, blood tests to measure carcinoembryonic antigen (a substance in the blood that may be increased when cancer is present) may be performed to see if the cancer has returned.

Treatments Options for Colon Cancer by Stage:

• Stage 0 Colon Cancer (Carcinoma in Situ) may be treated by local excision, simple polypectomy, resection or anastomosis.
• Stage I Colon Cancer may be treated by resection, anastomosis or participation in a clinical trial.
• Stage II Colon Cancer may be treated by resection, anastomosis or participation in a clinical trial.
• Stage III Colon Cancer may be treated by resection, anastomosis which may be followed by chemotherapy or clinical trials of new chemotherapy regimens after surgery.
• Stage IV and Recurrent Colon Cancer may be treated with local excision of tumors that have recurred, resection with or without anastomosis, surgery to remove parts of other organs to which cancer has spread, chemotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, cryosurgery, chemoembolization of the hepatic artery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy as palliative therapy to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life, radiation therapy or chemotherapy as palliative therapy to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life, chemotherapy and/or targeted thrapy with a monoclonal antibody or an angiogenesis inhibitor and clinical trials of chemotherapy and/or targeted therapy.

There are four types of standard treatment used to treat rectal cancer. Surgery, the most common treatment for all stages of rectal cancer, removes the cancer using one of several types of surgery depending on the cancer’s progress. After the cancer is removed, surgeons perform an anastomosis (sew the healthy parts of the rectum together, sew the remaining rectum to the colon or sew the colon to the anus), make a stoma (an opening) from the rectum to the outside of the body for waste to pass through (performed when the cancer is too close to the anus) or prescribe radiation therapy or chemotherapy (which may be given to shrink the tumor, make it easier to remove the cancer, lessen problems with bowel control after surgery or to kill any cancer cells that are left).

 

 

Other types of treatment are being tested in clinical trials. Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Follow-up tests may be needed. Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may need to be repeated. Some tests will be ordered to see how well the treatment is working, as well as to make decisions about whether to continue, change or stop treatment. Follow-up tests will also continue from time to time after treatment to make sure cancer has not recurred. After treatment, blood tests to measure carcinoembryonic antigen (a substance in the blood that may be increased when cancer is present) may be performed to see if the cancer has come back.

Treatments Options for Rectal Cancer by Stage:

• Stage 0 Rectal Cancer (Carcinoma in Situ) may be treated by simple polypectomy, local excision, resection or internal or external radiation therapy.
• Stage I Rectal Cancer may be treated by local excision, resection or resection with radiation therapy and chemotherapy before or after surgery.
• Stage II Rectal Cancer may be treated by resection combined with chemotherapy or radiation therapy before or after surgery, resection with or without chemotherapy after surgery or a clinical trial of a new treatment.
• Stage III Rectal Cancer may be treated with resection and a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy before or after surgery, resection with or without chemotherapy after surgery or a clinical trial of a new treatment.
• Stage IV and Recurrent Rectal Cancer may be treated with resection with or without a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy before surgery, resection as a palliative therapy to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life, radiation therapy and or chemotherapy (or a combination of both) as palliative therapy to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life, chemotherapy to control the growth of the tumor, placement of a stent to keep the rectum open as a palliative therapy, systemic chemotherapy or a clinical trial of a new anticancer drug.

Treatment of rectal cancer that has spread to other organs depends on which organ the cancer has spread to. This can include cryosurgery, radiofrequency ablation, chemoembolization, systemic chemotherapy, internal radiation therapy, surgery to remove the tumor, clinical trials and more.