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Your case is unique, which means your treatment plan will be designed around your needs. Every week, a team of specialists meets to discuss cancer cases and collaborate on the best treatment for each patient. You benefit from the combined expertise of specialists in radiology, surgery, pathology, pharmacology, oncology and therapists in fields like physical therapy and psychology.

Your recommended treatment will be based on best practices that have worked for other patients, specific aspects of your cancer/tumor, the results of all your tests, the stage of your cancer and your personal preferences.

Colorectal cancer is almost always treated through surgery to remove the tumor. When cancer is caught early, and treatment is begun immediately, surgery can often cure colorectal cancer. If the cancer has spread, radiation and chemotherapy / infusion therapies are used to supplement your treatment plan.

Cancer surgery

Surgery is the most common way to treat colorectal cancer. Procedures include:

Abdomino-perineal resection - Complete removal of the rectum and anus, necessitating a permanent end colostomy
Colectomy - Part of the colon and lymph nodes near the cancer are removed
Polypectomy - Only polyps inside the large intestine are removed, leaving the large intestine intact
Proctectomy - Complete removal of the rectum
Transanal excision - Surgical removal of tumors through the anus

Your doctor may also do surgery to see if cancer has spread to any area of your lymph node system, which may require other types of treatment after surgery.

Learn more about cancer surgery.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill or shrink cancer cells. Your doctor may use internal or external radiation, or both, to treat your cancer. This treatment can be used to shrink a tumor before surgery. Or it may be used after surgery to kill cancer cells that remain in the colorectal system, which encompasses the urinary organs.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses powerful medicines, either given through a vein or taken as pills, to kill cancer cells all through the body. Chemo is given in rounds, followed by a break; treatment can last for months. Chemo may be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or to kill any cancer cells that remain after local treatments. It may also treat tumors that have grown in other places in the body. Cancers that have spread are usually treated with chemotherapy.

Targeted therapy

Targeted therapy drugs target the changes in cells that cause cancer cells to form. These drugs affect the cancer cells in your body and leave your normal cells alone. The goal is to prevent the cancer from growing.

This treatment course sometimes works when standard chemotherapy drugs don’t, and they often have different (and less severe) side effects. In some cases, targeted drugs are given in combination with chemotherapy medicines. The two drugs work in combination to allow chemo drugs easier access to the tumor, making chemotherapy more effective overall.

Ablation therapy

Tumor ablation treatment destroys a tumor without surgically removing it from the body. This is often the medical recommendation when you’re too sick to have surgery. Ablation techniques include heating the tumor with radio waves (known as RFA), freezing the tumor (known as cryoablation), or killing the tumor by blocking certain blood vessels and cutting off the blood supply that feeds the large intestine.

You should always talk to your doctor about your specific treatment plan and what you can expect.