Chemotherapy

Although there are now quite a few options for treating colon cancer, up till now chemotherapy is probably the best option that most doctors prefer to follow. In this article, we will shed light on finding out the most effective treatment strategy for colon cancer, the administration procedure, availability of newest treatments, future possibilities of colon cancer chemotherapy, etc.
However, chemotherapy is assumed to treat colon cancer effectively, only a few of them are actually beneficial to solve the purpose. Although there is a strong possibility that the scenario is changing with the advent of medical science and new treatment lines are getting opened.

Time of Administration
Essentially, colon cancer chemotherapy is administered in two integral parts at different stages of the disease. One is adjuvant chemotherapy, in which the attempt is taken to prevent the recurrence of the formation of cancerous cells following the surgical intervention done by the surgeon. This is a form of preventive chemotherapy. This is administered on those individuals who are at higher risk for recurrence of forming cancerous cells once again. By administering adjuvant chemotherapy for six months, the risk is thus reduced.

On the other hand, the other part is administered on those patients who are already suffering from metastatic diseases. It is used to ensure a lengthier life for them, while reducing the apparent symptoms caused by cancer.
In recent years, doctors, researchers and health practitioners are taking interest in newer agents which are more functional and beneficial in treating colon cancer to the extent where it might be surgically removed. With the benefit of these newer agents, the surgeon will become able to remove the cancer out of the liver and help the patient to live a lengthier and cancer free life.

Stage of Administration
Now the question is whether there is any set out norms that define the specific stage of administering the chemotherapy on a patient suffering from colon cancer. In general consideration, many people agree to the fact that adjuvant chemotherapy should be administered during Stage III, which implies the period when colon is already undergone through resection process and by investigating it, the pathological tests confirm about the apparent evidences of metastatic diseases. Hence, at that phase, there is possibility that the concerned patient will be benefited from chemotherapy either following their resection. On the Stage IV disease, also referred to as metastatic disease, chemotherapy is administered in order to decrease the symptoms of disease.

Role of Chemotherapy in Disease Management
If you like to discuss about the disease management during peri-surgical period, chemotherapy is one of the most useful strategy to convert the cancerous growth into an amenable growth for resection, exclusively in the rectum area. In combination with radiation therapy, chemotherapy helps in a better management of cancerous growth prior to surgical intervention. Apart from the chemotherapy has been associated with sphincter salvaging surgery and it is found to be effective in dealing with colon cancer. In addition, down-sizing is possible with the administration of chemotherapy which certainly makes the surgical procedure less complicated.

Potential Benefits
Treating with chemotherapy for the patients with colon cancer receive a wealth of benefits including functional improvement, ability to preserve sphincter, while providing a negative margin altogether. In practice, chemotherapy is implemented following a liver resection procedure and there has been a prominent advantage noticed in the administration of chemotherapy even during the operation room during the time of liver resection. In fact, there is an interesting blend between different health care professionals like surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist, while the time comes about taking care about the patients suffering from colon cancer.

Agents in Use
Primarily and most importantly, the agent called 5FU is used under chemotherapy since last thirty years or little more. With the advent of modern science, now the practitioners know the different usages of this agent. At present, this is also administered in combination with some newly developed drugs. Throughout last decade, many new drugs have been developed. Many of them are really useful and effective. One of them is Camptosar. This drug is also known as irinotecan or CPT11. When this drug is combined with 5FU, the efficacy rate gets almost doubled and offers a proven and significant rate of survival. Another drug that comes in this line is known as Oxaliplatin. Although more researches need to be done to prove its actual efficacy on patients, it is still valuable and promising.

In addition, there are other oral chemotherapy drugs. Xeloda is one of them. Another one is known as UFT. Both of them are found to be effective in treating colon cancer.

Future Possibilities
The most important possibility about colon cancer is that more numbers of research have been actually conducted in order to understand the character of this malignancy in comparison with any other form of malignancy. In fact, the study area focusing on molecular genetics of colon cancer is indeed elaborating and fascinating. So, at present more and more researchers are taking interest in finding out the possible differences of molecular structure between colon cancer cells and normal cells and developing the agents that have an influence on them. Example may include the agent responsible for inhibiting the receptor for epidermal growth factor. C225, a monoclonal antibody, is the target interest. These are the molecules that have some apparent influence over the function governing the interaction between epidermal growth factor and colon cancer.

In addition, there are few other agents that can cause inhibition to the ability of cancerous cells for developing new blood vessels. There are wide numbers of promising agents that function like an anti-angiogenesis agents. All of these agents are helpful in terms of clinical development including the sectors of medical oncology, surgical oncology, and radiation oncology.

Ongoing Clinical Trials
Those who are interested to take part in any sort of clinical trials for colon cancer chemotherapy can search for available options in the cancer centers scattered throughout the nation. National Cancer Institute and PDQ database can be of the source of interest.