Chemotherapy For Colorectal Cancer, Oncology, Colon, Lymphoma

A Guide On Performing Chemotherapy For Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal oncology divides the cancer development of the colon/rectum into five stages, namely zero, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Irrespective of the stage, chemotherapy for colorectal cancer is predominantly used to treat the patients.

The only difference is that malignant tumor (lymphoma) surgery is performed first on a patient in the primary (zero and 1st stage) with chemotherapy succeeding it. In the case of 2nd (node negative) stage colorectal cancer, the opposite sequence is followed, but chemotherapy continues even after surgery. For a patient in the advanced (3rd and 4th) node positive stage of colorectal cancer, solely chemotherapy is used.

Although it is usually quite rare for colon cancer to be detected in the zero or 1st stage itself, such cases do come up from time to time. When they do, colorectal cancer specialists do a biopsy to confirm if the primary tumor in the colon/rectum is malignant (cancerous). If so, they operate on the patient to excise it.

In the zero stage, the primary tumor is small, so it is excised locally. In the 1st stage, the primary tumor is large, so a resection is performed to remove it. To prevent the spread of cancer cells from the colon/rectum to other sites in the body, chemotherapy is used thereafter to kill the presumably leftover cancerous cells, if any.

Detection of colorectal cancer in the 2nd stage is usually more probable than it is in the zero or 1st stage itself. For such a patient, chemotherapy is used prior to surgery to reduce the size of the lymphoma for convenient resection. The chemotherapy continues after surgery. This is to kill all the leftover cancer cells that have the potential to spread to secondary sites in the body.

It is most common for the late detection of colorectal cancer when it has already advanced to several organs besides the primary lymphoma in the colon/rectum. For patients in the advanced stage (3rd and 4th) of colon cancer, chemotherapy is the only viable option to control the further spread of cancer cells.

Chemotherapy is the administering of drugs into the body either via the mouth or as injectables through veins/muscles. Sometimes drugs are injected directly into the spinal column. Chemotherapy stops cancer cells from dividing and thereby prevents them from spreading to various parts of the body.

For colorectal cancer, irrespective of the stage, the first choice of chemotherpic drug is the orally administered 5-FU (5-fluorouracil) prodrug Capecitabine. It is found to be better than injecting 5-FU/folinic acid. Oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and irinotecan are also administered in addition to 5-FU. The chemotherapy schedule lasts for approximately six to eight months.

The chemotherapy for colorectal cancer not only kills the cancer cells, but also affects normal cells in the body. Some of the side effects include mouth sores, tiredness, nausea and vomiting.