Bowel cancer, or colorectal cancer as it is more commonly known, has a variety of treatment options. It is a cancer of either the bowel or rectum, which together form the large intestine. The type of treatment for bowel cancer depends on the stage of the cancer, as well as your age and overall health. Knowing your options ahead of time will help prepare you when the time comes to discuss them with your doctor.
Instructions
1. Surgery. This is the most common form of treatment for bowel cancer and there are three types of surgery that can be performed. A polypectomy involves removing any cancerous polyps on the colon or rectum. A laporoscopy uses a lighted tube attached to a camera that is inserted through small incisions in the wall of the abdomen. A colon and rectum resection involves surgically removing all cancerous portions of the colon and rectum, and then reconnecting the healthy areas. Generally, when any surgical procedure is performed to remove cancer, the doctor will also remove a small area of healthy tissue, as well as the lymph nodes, ensuring all cancer cells are gone.
2. Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a method of using anticancer drugs to either stop the dividing cancer cells completely or prevent them from reproducing and spreading. It is a treatment that may be given as an IV or taken orally with pills. It can be started before surgery is performed to destroy colorectal used in combination with radiation after surgery to destroy any remaining cells or used in cases when the cancer become advanced and begun to spread.
3. Radiation therapy. This method uses high energy beams of radiation that targets the organs affected by the bowel cancer. Depending on the stage of the cancer and success of other treatments, it may be used in combination with surgery and chemotherapy.
4. Internal radiation therapy. Otherwise referred to as implant radiation, this treatment method uses radioactive materials that have been planted and left inside the body to kill the cancerous cells.
5. Brachytherapy. Considered innovative, this is a more advanced form of internal radiation. It is considered to be quicker and more effective because the radioactive material is not simply placed in the body, but in the tumor itself. Not only does this ensure a higher dose of radiation at the desired site, it also decreases the risk of destroying the healthy tissue surrounding the cancer of the bowel.
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