What Are the Treatments for Metastatic Rectal Cancer?

Rectal cancer involves cancer in the final few inches of the colon, according to the Mayo Clinic. This and other types of cancer may spread from its original location to other body tissues, a quality the National Cancer Institute defines as metastatic. Treatments for metastatic rectal cancer may include chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery to kill cancer cells or impede their production.

Colorectal Cancer

• The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) states that doctors may diagnose cancer as Stage IV, or metastatic, upon first discovering the cancer or at a later stage of treatment. Blood tests or biopsies can confirm cancer in other organs.

Surgery

• Surgery can treat or even cure some metastatic rectal cancers if the metastasis remains confined to the liver or lungs, according to the NCCN.

Radiation

• If surgery cannot cure the cancer, radiation focused on the pelvic area may kill some of the cancerous cells.

Chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy often accompanies radiation as a treatment to kill cancer cells and slow the disease's spread.

Targeted Approach

• Some therapies focus on the processes that support tumor growth instead of the tumors themselves, inhibiting proteins or blood vessels that feed the cancer, according to the NCCN.