Rectal cancer
If colon cancer is at a very early stage, it may be possible to remove just a small piece of the lining of the colon wall, known as local excision.
If the cancer spreads into muscles surrounding the colon, it's usually necessary to remove an entire section of your colon, known as a colectomy.
There are three ways a colectomy can be performed:
During robotic surgery, there's no direct connection between the surgeon and the patient, which means it would be possible for the surgeon to not be in the same hospital as the patient. Robotic surgery isnot available in many centres in the UK at the moment.
During surgery, nearby lymph nodes are also removed. It's usual to join the ends of the bowel together after bowel cancer surgery, but very occasionally this isn't possible and a stoma is needed.
Both open and laparoscopic colectomies are thought to be equally effective at removing cancer, and have similar risks of complications.
However, laparoscopic or robotic colectomies have the advantage of a faster recovery time and less postoperative pain. Laparoscopic surgery is now becoming the routine way of doing most of these operations.
Laparoscopic colectomies should be available in all hospitals that carry out bowel cancer surgery, although not all surgeons perform this type of surgery. Discuss your options with your surgeon to see if this method can be used.
There are a number of different types of operation that can be carried out to treat rectal cancer, depending on how far the cancer has spread.
Some operations are entirely through the bottom, with no need for abdominal incisions.
Some of the main techniques used are described below.
If you have a very small early-stage rectal cancer, your surgeon may be able to remove it in an operation called a local resection (transanal, through the bottom resection).
The surgeon puts an endoscope in through your back passage and removes the cancer from the wall of the rectum.
In most cases, a local resection isn't possibleat the moment. Instead, a larger area of the rectum will need to be removed.
This area will include a border of rectal tissue free of cancer cells, as well as fatty tissuefrom around the bowel (the mesentery). This type of operation is known as total mesenteric excision (TME).
Removing the mesentery can help ensure all the cancerous cells are removed, which can lower the risk of the cancer recurring at a later stage.
Depending on where in your rectum the cancer is located, one of two main types of TME operations may be carried out. These are outlined below.
Low anterior resection is a procedure used to treat cases where the cancer is away from the sphincters that control bowel action.
The surgeon will make an incision in your abdomen and remove part of your rectum, as well as some surrounding tissue to make sure any lymph glands containing cancer cells are also removed.
They then attach your colon to the lowest part of your rectum or upper part of the anal canal. Sometimes they turn the end of the colon into an internal pouch to replace the rectum.
You'll probably require a temporary stomato give the joined section of bowel time to heal. This will be closed at a second, less major, operation.
Abdominoperineal resection is used to treat cases where the cancer is in the lowest section of your rectum.
In this case, it's usually necessary to remove the whole of your rectum and surrounding muscles to reduce the risk of the cancer regrowing in the same area.
This involves removing and closing the anus and removing its sphincter muscles, so there's no option except to have a permanent stoma after the operation.
Bowel cancer surgeons always do their best to avoid giving people permanent stomas wherever possible.
Where a section of the bowel is removed and the remaining bowel joined, the surgeon may sometimes decide to divert your faeces away from the join to allow it to heal.
The faeces are temporarily diverted by bringing a loop of bowel out through the abdominal wall and attaching it to the skin this is called a stoma. A bag is worn over the stoma to collect the faeces.
When the stoma is made from the small bowel (ileum) it's called an Stoma , and when it's made from thelarge bowel (colon) it's called a colostomy .
A specialist nurse known as a stoma care nurse can advise you on the best site for a stomaprior to surgery.
The nurse will take into account factors such as your body shape and lifestyle, although this may not be possible where surgery is performed in an emergency.
Inthe first few daysafter surgery, the stoma care nurse will advise on the care necessary to look after the stoma and the type of bag suitable.
Once the join in the bowel has safely healed, which can take several weeks, the stoma can be closedduring further surgery.
For various reasons, in some people rejoining the bowel may not be possible or may lead to problems controlling bowel function, and the stoma may become permanent.
Before having surgery, the care team will advise you about whether it may be necessary to form an ileostomy or colostomy, and the likelihood of this being temporary or permanent.
There are patient support groups available that provide support for patients who have just had or are about to have a stoma. You canget moredetails fromyour stoma care nurse, or visit the groupsonline for further information.
Theseinclude:
Bowel cancer operations carry many of the same risks as other major operations, including:
The operations all carry a number of risks specific to the procedure. One risk is that the joined up section of bowel may not heal properly and leak inside your abdomen. This is usually only a risk in the first few days after the operation.
Another risk is for people having rectal cancer surgery. The nerves that control urinationand sexual function are very close to the rectum, and sometimessurgery to remove a rectal cancer can damage these nerves.
After rectal cancer surgery, most people need to go to the toilet to open their bowels more often than before, althoughthis usually settles down within a few months of the operation.
Occasionally, some people particularly menhave other distressing symptoms, such as pain in the pelvic area and constipation alternating with frequent bowel motions. Frequent bowel motions can lead to severe soreness around the anal canal.
Support and advice should be offered on how to cope with these symptomsuntil the bowel adapts to the loss of part of the back passage.
There are two main ways radiotherapy can be used to treat bowel cancer. It can be given either:
Radiotherapy given before surgery for rectal cancer can be performed in two ways:
External radiotherapy is usually given daily, five days a week, with a break at the weekend.
Depending on the size of your tumour, you may need one to five weeks of treatment. Each session of radiotherapy is short and will only last for 10 to 15 minutes.
Internal radiotherapy can usually be performed in one session before surgery is carried out a few weeks later.
Palliative radiotherapy is usually given in short daily sessions, with a course ranging fromtwo to three days, up to 10 days.
Short-term side effects of radiotherapy can include:
These side effects should pass once the course of radiotherapy has finished.
Tell your care team if the side effects of treatment become particularly troublesome. Additional treatments are often available to help you cope with the side effectsbetter.
Long-term side effects of radiotherapy can include:
If you want to have children, it may be possible to store a sample of your sperm or eggs before treatment begins so they can be used in fertility treatments in the future.
There are three ways chemotherapy can be used to treat bowel cancer:
Chemotherapy for bowel cancer usually involves taking a combination of medications that kill cancer cells.
They can be given as a tablet (oral chemotherapy), through a drip in your arm (intravenous chemotherapy), or as a combination of both.
Treatment is given in courses (cycles) that aretwo to three weeks long each, depending on the stage or grade of your cancer.
A single session of intravenous chemotherapy can last from several hours to several days.
Most people having oral chemotherapy take tablets over the course of two weeks before having a break from treatment for another week.
A course of chemotherapy can last up to six months, depending on how well you respond to the treatment.
In some cases, it can be given in smaller doses over longer periods of time (maintenance chemotherapy).
Side effects of chemotherapy can include:
These side effects should gradually pass once your treatment has finished. It usually takes a few months for your hair to grow back if you experience hair loss.
Chemotherapy can also weaken your immune system, making you more vulnerable to infection.
Inform your care team or GP as soon as possible if you experience possible signs of an infection, including a high temperature (fever) or a sudden feeling of being generally unwell.
Medications used in chemotherapy can cause temporary damage to men's sperm and women's eggs. This means there's a risk to the unborn baby's health for women who become pregnant or men who father a child.
It's recommended that you use a reliable method of contraception while having chemotherapy treatment and for a period after your treatment has finished.
Biological treatments, including cetuximab, bevacizumab and panitumumab, are a newer type of medication also known as monoclonal antibodies.
Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that have been genetically engineered in a laboratory.
They target special proteins found on the surface of cancer cells, known as epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR).
As EGFRs help the cancer grow, targeting these proteins can help shrink tumours and improve the effect and outcome of chemotherapy.
Biological treatments are usually used in combination with chemotherapy when the cancer has spread beyond the bowel (metastatic bowel cancer).
These treatments aren't available to everyone with bowel cancer. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has specific criteriathat need to be met before these can be prescribed.
Cetuximab is only available on the NHS when:
Cetuximab, bevacizumab and panitumumab are available on the NHS through a government scheme called theCancer Drugs Fund. All these medications are also available privately, but are very expensive.
Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that begins in the large bowel. Depending on where the cancer starts, bowel cancer is sometimes called colon or rectal cancer. Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed
Read about symptoms of bowel cancer, including blood in the stools (faeces), a change in bowel habit, such as more frequent, looser stools, and tummy (abdominal) pain.
Read about the causes of bowel cancer. Cancer occurs when the cells in a certain area of your body divide and multiply too rapidly. This produces a lump of tissue known as a tumour.
Read about diagnosing bowel cancer. When you first see your GP, they'll ask about your symptoms and whether you have a family history of bowel cancer.
Read about treating bowel cancer. Treatment for bowel cancer depends on which part of your bowel is affected and how far the cancer has spread.
Read about how bowel cancer can affect your daily life in different ways, depending on what stage it's at and what treatment you're having.
Anne Messenger, from London, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2005. After keyhole surgery, she is now in the clear and focused on helping others.
Lester tells his story of being diagnosed with bowel cancer
Linda's account of being diagnosed with bowel cancer