What treatment you or your loved one gets will depend upon how far the cancer has progressed. This is the “stage” of the cancer. The cancer starts on the lining of the large intestine, but from there it can spread through the intestine and even outside of it. If the cancer has developed too far, it can even spread to other organs in the body.

Here are the stages to colon cancer, and how they are commonly treated:

Stage 0: The cancer is not very developed; it’s really more of a precursor to cancer than the real thing. It is only on the inner layer of the large intestine.
Treatment: At this stage the cancer is merely cut out. This usually happens with colonoscopy, where polyps in the large intestine are removed. No further treatment is necessary.

Stage 1: There is a tumor in the colon’s inner layers.
Treatment: It may require more involved surgery to remove the growth at this stage. Usually a part of the colon, containing the tumor, is entirely removed. Then the colon is reconnected on either side. In most cases this is all that is necessary, and the patient will not even need a colostomy (a “redirection” of waste products).

Stage 2: At this stage the tumor has progressed from just the lining of the organ through the muscle of the colon.
Treatment is the same as for Stage 1: removal of the infected section of the colon. The possibility of chemotherapy after surgery should be discussed with a doctor.

Stage 3: Besides having spread beyond the inner layers of the colon, the cancer has also reached the lymph nodes.
Treatment: The infected section of the colon is removed, but at this stage more treatment is necessary.

Patients at Stage 3 should have chemotherapy after the surgery. A drug is given for 8 months, which is known to help cure cancer patients. The chemotherapy drug is taken by mouth. People who undergo chemotherapy often experience side effects, but it’s a proven way to lessen the chance that the cancer will spread.

Stage 4: The tumor has reached other organs.
Treatment: Chemotherapy is used to lengthen the patient’s life. It shrinks the tumor and improves quality of life. If the cancer has only spread to the liver, then new tumors can sometimes be removed (or lessened with chemotherapy and radiation therapy). Radiation therapy is not often used to treat colon cancer.

Terms to Know in Treatment

Chemotherapy

The cancer is treated by attacking it with chemical agents or drugs that destroy the malignant (unhealthy and bad) cells. It’s like selective poison: it’s designed to kill the cancer and leave the healthy tissue.

Radiation Therapy

Usually we don’t want to expose our healthy tissues to radiation. But when tissues are infected with cancer, it means that tissue is growing out of control. This over-growing tissue is exposed to radiation, which is most harmful to growing tissue (since it stops the cells from reproducing any more). Since the cancer tissue is growing so much (and healthy tissue is growing much more slowly), the radiation can have a beneficial effect overall.

The problem with both chemotherapy and radiation therapy is that they aren’t perfect sciences. Some healthy tissues are hurt along with the unhealthy tissues, and that can cause things like hair loss and nausea in the patient. But overall the treatments can be helpful, as they preserve life.