About Colon Cancer Surgery

Colon cancer is a cancer of the large intestine, or colon, which affects approximately 110,000 individuals in the United States each year. Colon cancer usually begins as groups of cells in the colon that grow into polyps. While regular screening for these polyps can help detect colon cancer early, surgery is often needed when the condition becomes advanced.

Types

• There are several options available to doctors as they try to detect and diagnose colon cancer. Stool samples are useful when bleeding is present in the patient, but they are far from all telling. A flexible sigmoidoscopy is much more conclusive, with a flexible slender lighted tube inserted up the rectum and into the colon to look for cancerous polyps, but this procedure only covers the lower third of the colon. A colonoscopy utilizes a longer tube and can view the entire colon and rectum; the polyps can be removed immediately with the equipment used. A barium enema is another test that allows a barium dye to coat the lining of your bowels and provide contrast for X-rays. It is however by no means a pleasant procedure. The discovery of cancer in these instances can ultimately lead to colon cancer surgery.

Significance

• A surgery called a colectomy is the usual treatment for colon cancer, with the piece of the bowel that contains the cancer removed. The length of colon taken out depends on how far the cancer has gone. In most cases the surgeon will remove the piece of affected colon and portions of the healthy colon on either side to make sure no cancer is left. Lymph nodes in the vicinity of the cancer are removed and tested. The remaining colon is reconnected if possible. If not then the patient will receive a colostomy, where an opening is made in the wall of the abdomen to allow a part of the remaining bowel to eliminate waste into a special bag. A colostomy may be temporary to allow the colon to heal before it is reattached or it may be permanent.

Benefits

• A less invasive procedure called a laparoscopic surgery can be used to remove larger polyps. Several small incisions are made by the surgeon in the wall of the abdomen and instruments with cameras attached are inserted, with the picture displayed on a video monitor. The surgeon uses this view to then remove the polyps without having to completely open up the abdomen. The advantages of this type of colon cancer surgery are that the person recovers quicker, needs less pain medication, and studies have shown that there is a lower rate of recurrence with a laparoscopic surgery.

Considerations

• In advanced cases of colon cancer where the patient is in bad health and in much pain a surgery called a palliative surgery can be performed. It cannot cure the cancer or remove it but can improve the situation by relieving such symptoms as pain and bleeding. Other organs that are affected by the cancer can have lesions removed from them and chemotherapy can then be utilized to battle the cancer, helping the person's chances.

Prevention/Solution

• Other options to surgery include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and targeted drug therapy. Chemo uses specific drugs to destroy the cancer cells but often has horrific side effects. Radiation therapy uses energy such as x-rays to kill cancer cells and to shrink tumors so they can be operated on safely. It is hardly ever used in early stages of colon cancer and also comes with side effects such as vomiting, weight loss and fatigue. Targeted drug therapy tries to stop cancer cells from reproducing using specific drugs.