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Chemotherapy for colon cancer
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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Chemotherapy for bowel cancer is a drug treatment for malignant neoplasms, as well as slowing the growth of cancer cells and destroying distant metastases. As a rule, in bowel cancer, chemotherapy is used as an adjuvant therapy after surgery or before surgery for rectal or colon cancer.
Treatment with antitumor drugs is used when after tumor removal there is a high probability of relapse of the disease or there are metastases. But this type of treatment can be used as monotherapy only when there are no metastases at all, and the cancerous neoplasm is localized in a certain area of the intestine.
Typically, patients are prescribed a 5-FU treatment regimen using the drug 5-fluorouracil. The drug is highly effective and has minimal side effects. The drug can be used both as monotherapy and in combination with other antitumor drugs. Chemotherapy is used for both primary and secondary bowel cancer. The course of treatment can last from several days to several months. Chemotherapy has a destructive effect on the cancer process and completely destroys the disease.
Chemotherapy for colon cancer
Chemotherapy for colon cancer is used to destroy cancer cells and metastases. Various drug regimens are used for chemotherapy. Each regimen is made individually for the patient and depends on the stage of cancer and its type (primary, secondary), the degree of colon damage, the presence of metastases, the patient's age and other characteristics of the body.
Chemotherapy for colon cancer may consist of the following treatment regimens:
- Postoperative systemic chemotherapy. The patient is prescribed 5-FU 450 mg/m2, intravenously for 5 days, once a week for a year + Levamisol 150 mg/day, three days, every two weeks for a year.
- Combination of antitumor drugs with biological modulators: 5-FU, Leucovorin, Interferon-alfa2b.
In addition to the above-described standard chemotherapy regimens for colon cancer, patients are prescribed a complex of vitamins and anti-cancer drugs to prevent recurrence of the malignant neoplasm.
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Chemotherapy for sigmoid colon cancer
Chemotherapy for sigmoid colon cancer is similar to treatment regimens used for cancer of the colon and other parts of the intestine. In sigmoid colon cancer, resection is mandatory, i.e. excision of the affected organ. Chemotherapy is used before and after surgery. Antitumor drugs help reduce the volume of cancer and prevent metastasis.
Chemotherapy can be used to treat inoperable and advanced cases of sigmoid colon cancer. However, chemotherapy does not destroy the cancerous tumor completely, but only slows its growth. The main disadvantage of chemotherapy is that it often gives very unpredictable results and has pathological side effects. These factors call into question the appropriateness of using chemotherapy for sigmoid colon cancer.
But chemotherapy helps fight metastases that affect the liver and other internal organs. The survival rate of patients with sigmoid colon cancer is 50%, and the life expectancy after this diagnosis and ineffective treatment is 6-9 months.
Chemotherapy for colon cancer
Chemotherapy for cecum cancer is a long and complex treatment process that takes place under the supervision of an oncologist. The chemotherapy regimen is made individually for each patient, with careful selection of dosages to achieve a positive treatment effect. Antitumor drugs used are those with minimal side effects and toxic effects.
The effectiveness of chemotherapy depends on the stage of the cancer process, the type of cancer, the presence of metastases in vital organs, previous treatment, and the individual characteristics of the patient's body. Chemotherapy for cecum cancer, as well as for other oncological lesions of the intestine, can be carried out both after surgery and before surgery.
Chemotherapy for Colon Cancer
Chemotherapy for colon cancer is palliative. That is, the course of chemotherapy does not destroy the cancerous tumor, but reduces its size and metastases, which significantly improves the lives of patients. Special schemes are used for chemotherapy, which are compiled depending on the patient's age, stage and form of cancer and other characteristics of the body. Most often, 5-fluorouracil and Ftorafur are used for treatment. At the same time, the threshold for five-year survival of patients is 50-60%.
Chemotherapy for bowel cancer can be used before or after surgery. Antitumor drugs effectively destroy distant metastases and prevent recurrence of the disease (provided that the tumor is surgically removed).