Different approaches to colon cancer treatment

There are three methods of treating colon cancer - by surgery, radiation therapy and by chemotherapy.

Colon cancer surgery is the most widely-used method of treating the disease. In colon cancer surgery, the part of the colon that has the tumor and the infected tissue on it is removed, and then the remaining parts of the colon are sewn back. Lately, colon cancer surgeries are done with the help of an instrument called laparoscope, which enables the doctors operate through a very small abdominal incision, leaving only a small scar behind.

Radiation therapy is a treatment that involves the use of high energy rays that can kill the cancer cells. The advantage of this method is that it can also kill the cancerous cells that have spread and were not detected yet.
Radiation therapy is required when the cancer has spread to another organ and the surgery can not remove it form there.
The bad part of radiation therapy is that it has side effects that include diarrhea, tiredness or bladder irritation.

Chemotherapy uses special anti cancerous drugs that are injected into the patient's blood and spread through the whole body, killing all the cancerous cells. This kind of therapy is used when the cancer has spread to many places and surgery or radiation therapy can't cover such large areas. Unfortunately chemotherapy has the worst side effects. The most common are loss of hair, loss of appetite, fatigue, easy bruising and bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea.

The method used and the survival rate depend on what stage has colon cancer advance to when the treatment begins. In the first stage the survival rate exceeds 90%, in the second stage 70%, in the third 60%, and in the fourth is goes down to somewhere around 8%. That is why it's important to pay attention at the symptoms and start the treatment as soon as you can.

For more resource on different colon cancer subjects please click this link www.colon-cancer-center.com. You can also find valuable information about colon cancer diet or even about stage3 colon cancer

Article Source: http://www.thearticleinsiders.com