Available colon cancer treatments include the following:

Surgery: The goal of the surgery is to remove as much of the tumor from the body as possible. Depending on the severity and the location of the colon cancer, there are several different types of surgery:

• Local excision: The doctor puts a tube through the rectum into the colon to remove the cancer. This type of surgery does not require cutting through the abdomen.
• Resection: The tumor, some healthy colon tissues, and the surrounding lymph nodes are removed (called anastomosis). Sometimes the doctor will need to re-attach the colon together. If this is not possible, a special bag is attached to the colon so the waste can pass to the outside of the body (this is called colostomy).
• Cryosurgery (cryotherapy): This method uses extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen to freeze the abnormal cells to death. The doctor uses MRI or ultrasound to help guide the instrument and monitor the freezing of cells.

Sometimes it is possible to perform the surgery in a minimally invasive manner (laparoscopic surgery). In this type of surgery, a tiny camera is inserted into the patient through a tiny opening to help guide the surgeon, and other instruments are inserted into the patient through additional small openings to remove the cancer and/or to re-attach the colon.

Chemotherapy: In chemotherapy, a drug or a combination of drugs that poison cells is given to the patient, most often via intravenous injection. Once inside the body, the drug travels around the body and kills the rapidly-dividing cancer cells. Because the drug also kills other normal rapidly-dividing healthy cells, there can be adverse side effects.

Radiation treatment: Radiation treatments use high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Because it is very difficult to pinpoint the radiation only to the cancer cells, usually the surrounding healthy cells will be affected as well. Radiation treatment comes in two types: external and internal. In external radiation treatment, a laser is used, usually with the assistance of computer, to point to the cancer cells. In internal radiation treatment (called brachytherapy) , tiny seeds containing radioactive material are injected directly into or near the cancer and left there. In time, the material loses its radioactivity and the seeds do not need to be taken out.

Biologic therapy: This method attempts to boost the patient's immune system to combat cancer. This is a newer form of treatment for colon cancer, and may be used in combination with other treatment methods.

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