Nobody wants to think about cancer recurring, but unfortunately there's no cure for cancer yet and it can recur at any time. Recurrent colon cancer is treatable, although as with any recurrent cancer, the prognosis is worse than with the first round of treatment. Patients may want to consider entering a clinical trial or, if the cancer is far advanced, undergoing palliative treatment.
Treatment
Colon cancer can reappear near the site of the original tumor or in another organ (usually the liver). When colon cancer recurs, the same treatments used for the original tumor may be tried. If the tumor is small enough, it will be surgically removed, and the operation followed up with chemotherapy. If it's not small enough to be taken out, chemotherapy will be applied to try to shrink the tumor to the point where it can be removed surgically. If colon cancer recurs in the liver, a surgeon may try to remove part of that organ. Several chemotherapy options are available to treat recurrent colon cancer; a tumor may be genetically tested to see which type of chemotherapy it will respond to.
Clinical Trials
Because recurrent colon cancer is hard to treat, it may be worthwhile to look into experimental options. Clinical trials apply new forms or combinations of treatments to chosen patients. The National Institutes of Health maintains a database of open clinical trials that is accessible on the Internet (see Resources for more information).
Palliative Care
If recurrent colon cancer is refractory (not responding to treatment) or advanced, a patient may want to switch to fully palliative care. Palliative care is not designed to control cancer growth but rather to make the patient comfortable in their last period of life. While it's hard to think about switching to palliative care, it can actually make a person much happier in the time they have left to them than undergoing grueling treatments that have little chance of success. Palliative care involves controlling pain and easing other symptoms, such as fatigue and depression; treatments may include painkillers and radiation (which can shrink a tumor so that it causes less pain).
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