Therapeutic Management of Colon Cancer

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is a major public health problem worldwide, and a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Correct pretherapeutic staging has the role of guiding the management of colon cancer patients. The diagnosis is guided by the clinical symptoms. Chemotherapy is an important part of colon cancer treatment. Chemotherapy regimens are adapted to tumor stage and patient status and have various side effects and variable survival outcomes. International guidelines recommend different treatments depending on the presence or absence of metastases. The primary goal of treatment in nonmetastatic colon cancer is surgical removal of the tumor which could be the first step of the complex therapy or preceded by neoadjuvant therapy, depending on pretherapeutic staging. In resectable nonmetastatic tumors the preferred surgical procedure is colectomy with en bloc removal of regional lymph nodes. The extent of colectomy should be based on tumor location. The management of metastatic colon cancer also targets the therapeutic approach of the metastatic disease. Therapy is standardized and applied according to tumor stage. Surveillance has a major role in therapeutic success, reason why a time schedule and a protocol adapted to the primary lesion are essential. The goal of implementing the recommendations of international guidelines for the treatment of colon cancer is to provide a uniform treatment for this disease in view of improving overall survival of patients.