Colon Cancer and Surgery: How and why surgery is used as a treatment for colon cancer
A colon cancer diagnosis can be frightening and overwhelming, and the prospect of an operation can be equally as daunting. However, keeping yourself informed and educated about colon cancer and surgery will empower you to take an active role in your health care and recovery. Put yourself at ease by learning more about the surgical procedures commonly used for treatment for colon cancer.
Colon cancer and surgery generally go hand in hand as far as treatment methods are concerned. Surgery isn’t only used to treat the disease, but also for the initial diagnosis or for providing relief from ongoing symptoms. Surgery may be all that is necessary for removing the diseased tissue, but in some cases, additional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation may be needed in addition to the surgical procedure.
For most patients, having both colon cancer and surgery are inevitable. The surgical removal of tumors offers the best chance for a cure, which is especially true if the cancer has not yet metastasized, or spread to other areas of the body. If your surgeon feels certain that your cancer is confined to one central location, they may opt for surgery as your primary form of treatment.
Surgery can be used as early as the diagnostic portion of treatment to determine the status of suspicious growths or polyps. Once the surgeon removes the suspicious cells, they can then be studied further under a microscope to determine whether they are benign (non-cancerous), or malignant (cancerous).
Surgery is also used to determine the stage that the cancer is in, and to allow the surgeon a chance to evaluate the size and location of the tumors. During the actual surgery the doctor may also be able to determine if the cancer has spread to any of the surrounding lymph nodes. However, even with surgery your doctor may also recommend additional tests to better determine the stage or severity of the cancer.
Even if it isn’t possible to completely remove all of the cancerous tissue, your doctor may still decide to treat the disease with surgery. A process often referred to as ‘de-bulking’ is done to remove as much of the cancer as possible, which will hopefully cause additional forms of therapy such as radiation to be more effective in shrinking or eradicating the remaining cancer cells.
In an effort to relieve the symptoms or side effects from colon cancer, surgery may be used to improve one’s quality of life instead of actually treating the disease itself. Tumors can often press down onto nerves and bones, or obstruct parts of the intestine causing pain and discomfort that can be alleviated with surgery. Although the disease might have metastasized and be too widespread to totally remove, the surgical removal of some tumors can provide relief from pain.
In some cases, doctors will use surgery for colon cancer prevention. If you are predisposed to developing colon cancer due to a strong family history or a known hereditary condition, your doctor may suggest surgery. If your health care professional suspects that you may soon develop the disease, they may recommend the surgical removal of portions or all of the colon and rectum.
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