Colon Cancer Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy was considered the best choice when it came to treat colon cancer until a few years back. But today due to advancement in science there have proved that there are more effective treatments to cure colon cancer than just chemotherapy.
Colon cancer patients need to undergo two different stages of treatment the first one being adjuvant chemotherapy. In this method the cancer part or the part affected by the tumor is removed surgically. Adjuvant therapy is mainly a preventive form of chemotherapy;
The second stage in this treatment is to administer the drugs to patients who have already entered the metastatic stage of the disease. Here the treatment is given to see that the life span of the patient increases at the same time the sufferings and the symptoms of the disease decreases.
Different stages of drug administration that a patient needs to know
Adjuvant chemotherapy can be administered after the removal of the cancerous part from the body, to see that the resection process has been successful all you need to do is undergo certain tests in order to confirm that the chemotherapy will benefit the patient. This being the 3 rd stage and the 4 th and the final stage is to reduce the symptoms of the disease after the patient has undergone chemotherapy treatment.
Use of chemotherapy to control the disease: Immediately after surgery it has been found that chemotherapy is the most useful method of treating colon cancer as it helps destroy growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy and sphincter salvaging surgery have been closely associated to deal with colon cancer effectively.
Benefits of chemotherapy: The benefits are many but the main thing is that there is a vast improvement to prevent and preserve the sphincter muscles. Chemotherapy treatment is given to the patient after the resection of the liver is done.
Anti-cancer agents used : 5FU anti-cancer agent has been in use for more than 3decades. The newer and modern drugs that are administered are all a combination of two or more drugs. Though some of the previously drugs have proved to be effective like Camptosar which is also known as irinotecan has proved to be more beneficial after it has been combined with 5FU. Oxaliplatin is yet another drug that has proved to be very efficient to treat colon cancer. Xeloda and UFT are other anti-cancer drugs that have proved to be effective in treating colon cancer.
What does the future hold for colon cancer patients? The future is full of hope for colon cancer patients as research is going on to find the difference between the molecular structure of the affected colon cancer cells and that of the normal colon cells so that better anti-cancer agents can be developed to help fight colon cancer. C225 is a monoclonal antibody which acts like a receptor for the epidermal growth of the cells.
Till better and more effective drugs are not invented the best option is to make use of the anti-cancer drugs available to help destroy cancer cells.