Colorectal Cancer Treatment Options

Colon Cancer Treatment. The primary treatment for colon cancer is surgical removal of the tumor and adjacent lymph nodes. However, it is highly recommended that patients with a new diagnosis of colon cancer strongly consider a second opinion from a multidisciplinary team such as ours. Traditionally, surgeons will remove the colon through an extensive abdominal incision. However, our surgeons have the experience and advanced technology to perform this procedure using a minimally invasive, laparoscopic technique, which involves a fiber optic camera, long surgical instruments and much smaller incisions. The advantage of this innovative method is a shorter hospital stay and a faster return to normalcy. In addition, our use of such techniques as full lymph node removal and fat clearing of tissue maximizes the number of lymph nodes removed and identified, and provides our patients with more effective staging and treatment.

Additional Treatments. For patients with high-risk colon cancers—in particular for those whose cancer has spread to the lymph nodes—chemotherapy is recommended. Traditionally, this most often involves Fluorouracil (5FU) and Leucovorin. There have been many advances in chemotherapy over the last several years, however, which include several new drugs that have superior results in treating colon cancer. Two such drugs, in use at The Lacks Cancer Center, are Oxaliplatin and Irinotecan. In addition, we utilize the latest targeting agents, which more aggressively pinpoint cancer cells—the most common form of targeted therapy for colon cancer patients is Avastin®.

Rectal Cancer Treatment. Because of its location in the pelvis, the surgical treatment of rectal cancer is significantly more complicated than that of colon cancer. In fact, without appropriate staging and treatment the probability of recurrence is more likely. At The Lacks Cancer Center, however, surgeons from our Multidisciplinary GI Clinic have expertise in such progressive surgical techniques as total mesorectal excision (TME)—an approach that significantly decreases the risk for recurrence to less than 10%. We also offer other advanced surgical techniques, such as sewn coloanal anastomsis, which greatly increase the likelihood that our patients will maintain proper bowel function—eliminating the need for a colostomy bag. For more advanced tumors or for tumors that cannot be removed, treatment should involve preoperative chemotherapy and radiation, which shrinks the tumor, allowing it to be removed for cure.

Seek the most aggressive treatments available from our Multidisciplinary Colorectal Clinic with a referral from your primary care physician or with a self-referral by calling 1-877-LACKS-MI or 616-685-LACK(S).