Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Colorectal cancer and surgery

Published:Wednesday | March 9, 2022 | 12:08 AMKeisha Hill/Senior Gleaner Writer

Surgically removing the cancer is the most common treatment for many stages of colorectal cancer. Chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, radio frequency ablation, and cryosurgery are other treatments that may be used to treat colorectal cancer, depending on the stage.

The treatments that are most likely to help depends on one’s particular situation, including the location of the cancer, its stage and your other health concerns. If your colon cancer is very small, your doctor may recommend a minimally invasive approach to surgery, such as:

 

• Removing polyps during a colonoscopy (polypectomy): If your cancer is small, localised, completely contained within a polyp and in a very early stage, your doctor may be able to remove it completely during a colonoscopy.

 

• Endoscopic mucosal resection: Larger polyps might be removed during colonoscopy using special tools to remove the polyp and a small amount of the inner lining of the colon in a procedure called an endoscopic mucosal resection.

 

• Minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopic surgery): Polyps that cannot be removed during a colonoscopy may be removed using laparoscopic surgery. In this procedure, your surgeon performs the operation through several small incisions in your abdominal wall, inserting instruments with attached cameras that display your colon on a video monitor. The surgeon may also take samples from lymph nodes in the area where the cancer is located.

If the cancer has grown into or through your colon, your surgeon may recommend:

 

PARTIAL COLECTOMY: During this procedure, the surgeon removes the part of your colon that contains the cancer, along with a margin of normal tissue on either side of the cancer. Your surgeon is often able to reconnect the healthy portions of your colon or rectum. This procedure can commonly be done by a minimally invasive approach – laparoscopy.

 

• SURGERY TO CREATE A WAY FOR WASTE TO LEAVE YOUR BODY: When it is not possible to reconnect the healthy portions of your colon or rectum, you may need an ostomy. This involves creating an opening in the wall of your abdomen from a portion of the remaining bowel for the elimination of stool into a bag that fits securely over the opening.

Sometimes the ostomy is only temporary, allowing your colon or rectum time to heal after surgery. In some cases, however, the colostomy may be permanent.

 

• LYMPH NODE REMOVAL: Nearby lymph nodes are usually also removed during colon cancer surgery and tested for cancer.

If your cancer is very advanced or your overall health very poor, your surgeon may recommend an operation to relieve a blockage of your colon or other conditions in order to improve your symptoms. This surgery is not done to cure cancer, but instead to relieve signs and symptoms, such as a blockage, bleeding or pain.

In specific cases where the cancer has spread only to the liver or lung but your overall health is otherwise good, your doctor may recommend surgery or other localised treatments to remove the cancer. Chemotherapy may be used before or after this type of procedure. This approach provides a chance to be free of cancer over the long term.