Colon Cancer Staging And Treatments For Colon Cancer

What are the various colon cancer staging and the treatments of cancer?

Colon cancer stage 1 - At the earliest stage of colon cancer, doctor may find polyps in the intestines.  After removal, the patient is put on a surveillance programme with regular colonoscopes.  This kind of surveillance has contributed to the decline of colrectal cancer in the US, so they are very effective.

Colon Cancer Stage 2 - At colon cancer stage 2, the cancer would have invaded the wallsof intestines; the colon cancer survivability rate at this stage is 70% over 5 years.

Colon Cancer Stage 3 - The colon cancer survivability at this stage is only around 40% over 5 years, as the cancer would have spread to the lymph nodes outside the intestines.

Colon Cancer Stage 4 - At this stage, the cancer has spread to the liver, the colon cancer survivability rate is generally only 2 years.

The thing is that if the patient is diagnosed at Colon Cancer Stage 1, it can be dealth with keyhole surgery  alone, with more than 95 chance of survival.

Meanwhile, where medicine for treatments of advance stage of colon cancer is concerned, advances are making drugs more targeted and effective.  Survival times have improved, with a median of 20 motnhs or more compared to 12 months previously.

A new generation of colon cancer treatments drugs such as cetuximab, are more targeted.  Cetuximab binds iteself to the epidermal growth factor receptor and so retards growth of the cancer cells.  A recent study showed that Asian responded well to the the cetuximab treatment and as well as Erbitux, the only brand for cetuximab currently as Europeans did.

[tags]Colon Cancer Treatments,Colon Cancer,Cancer[/tags]