In theory, every colon cancer patient can suffer a surgical intervention. If the cancer is in an early stage, the surgery is performed with the purpose to cure the disease. If the cancer has spread, but only to nearby tissues, the primary tumor must be abscised and the secondary tumors in the area must be removed as complexly as possible. If the cancer has spread and created metastases, than surgery can be performed only after the cancer has been neutralized and its growth stopped. In these cases, colon cancer treatment has firstly a palliative purpose, and only then a curative one.
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The most important factor in choosing colon cancer treatment and medical intervention is the location of the tumor, which can be formed on the right or left side of the colon. Through surgery the colon be sectioned and the affected part removed, while the healthy ones are putted together. Through surgery the tumors can be removed completely and so other medicines are needed. However, when the cancer grows, with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy can be administrated. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are non chirurgical interventions. Chemotherapy is, according to doctors, efficient in 80 percent of the cases, but the failures are caused by the cancer metastases and the patient reaction to treatment.

Radiation therapy is an important component in the treatment of colon cancer. The rectum position in the small basin comes into contact with the mucous membranes of neighboring organs. Radiation has the effect of regression of tumor, characterized by decreasing tumor size and number of lymph dissemination, increasing the chances of radical surgery. The local radiation used in most cases is made external or internal. It can have more than one form.

The adjuvant radiation therapy is administrated in addition to surgery in patients in stages two and three and the main objective of this intervention is increasing the duration of patient survival and decrease the risk of local recurrence. Isolated radiation therapy causes significant reduction in local recurrences, with an advantage that it can have long term effects. Maximum result is obtained in patients with tumor that has invaded neighboring tissues. Isolated radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy can increase the chances of cure of one patient. Palliative radiotherapy is administrated in local recurrences, inoperable tumor and lymph nodes or visceral metastasis. However, the effects of this therapy are reduced and only in a relatively small number of cases the cancer allows surgical excision. Radiation therapy in early colon cancer is performed in a few cases and requires a very high level of care form both patient and doctor. This method can be used only for tumors that are less than 3 cm in size, well differentiated, fully mobile and without lateral node invasion.

Dukes’ D colon cancer stage is actually colon cancer stage 4. The first name is an old one, the first one gave to the last stage of colon cancer, now called colon cancer stage four. In this stage, the cancerous tumors have actually spread in the individual body, to other parts or organs that are not in the close side of the initial tumor. They can create metastases to the liver, lungs or bones. So, the cancer after spreading to nearby lymph nodes spreads to other parts of the body. This makes it very difficult to cure.
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In fact colon cancer has five stages, which mark the disease evolution, from zero, the most easy to cure one, to four, the most advanced one. The stages are established according to the disease evolution. In stage zero, the tumor has not left it’s original position, in stages one and two it grows and starts affecting the colon wall, in stage three it spreads behind the colon wall to nearby organs, and in stage four it spreads to other organs which are not close to the colon.



This staging is done with the purpose to establish the most appropriate treatment for each patient and particular case. The treatment regards both surgery and chemotherapy, but it can also imply radiation therapy. Doctors decide which of those interventions are the best for each case and which should be performed. The patient has to be informed about his condition, although being diagnosed with colon cancer last stage is not the easiest thing to handle. This is way support for a colon cancer patent is also very important.

Also called Dukes D colon cancer, in stage four the cancer spreads outside the colon creating tumors at any size, which may or may not include affected lymph nodes. This is the most advanced stage of colon cancer and the most difficult to treat one. The disease affects many people every year and is today one of the main causes in cancer related deaths. The survival rates when being diagnosed with colon cancer last stage do not look very optimistic.



About 80 to 90 percent of those who reached colon cancer stage four do not survive five years after their diagnosis. So, for the majority, Dukes D colon cancer is deadly. Being diagnosed with one of the last stages of colon cancer does not mean that all hope of surviving is gone. Even if the disease is one of the most difficult to treat, is some cases treatment can work and tumors can withdraw or the spreading of the cancer can be stopped. This is also a very thing important because it is the first step in colon cancer cure.

Colon cancer is a disease that affects the colon. It starts in the colon and at the beginning is caused by an abnormal evolution of the healthy cells. The cells divide in an abnormal way, and so the cancerous tumors can be formed. That is way screenings are recommended by doctors at certain periods of time and through different types of tests these polyps can be detected before they evolve into cancer.
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At first, the cancer begins with a cancerous polyp developed without any symptoms. If the cancer is discovered before it is actually formed, the cancerous evolution can be treated before it becomes a problem. This is considered the stage zero of the disease. In this phase the cancer can be treated very easy. In stages one and two, the disease usually grows, but it does not leave the place where it has been formed. Stating with stage three colon cancer starts spreading to other parts of the body, in stage three to nearby tissues and organs, and in stage four to far placed organs, such as the liver or the lungs.



So, in stage four colon cancer develops metastases. The metastases are secondary tumors, resulting from the dissemination of the malignant cells through blood and lymph to other organs and tissues of the body. When cancer has created different metastases, the chances of cure are not very high, but that does not mean that it can not be cured at all because not all metastatic cancers are the same.

When diagnosed with one of the first stages of the disease patients start wondering how fast can colon cancer spread and if the disease can be treated before it develops metastases. In early diagnoses colon cancer can be easily cured through surgical interventions that can remove the cancerous tumors. In some cases, colon cancer can reappear, even if the tumor has been removed. However, if there is applied a proper treatment, the disease can be stopped form growing. When treatment is not used, colon cancer can evolve rapidly and it can also spread very quickly.



In general, colon cancer is a disease that grows slowly. It can take many years for colon cancer to be formed. That is way through screenings cancer can be found before it becomes a problem. However, because symptoms often appear when the cancer has evolved, most patients are diagnosed in the last stages of the disease. In some cases the cancer can grow rapidly and evolve from stage two to stage four in only six months. When it starts spreading, colon cancer can spread rapidly to many parts of the body. So, if we try to answer the question how fast colon cancer spreads, the answer is that it can depend a lot on the patient.

It is a fact that colon cancer is one of the most common types of cancers that cause many deaths around the world. However, it in not clear what the causes of colon cancer are. Cancer occurs when cells in the colon structure are modified. A normal cells growth and division in an orderly manner, ensures a normal function. Sometimes, this increases out of control, so that cells divide excessively in a continuous manner. After a period of latency, such cellular aggregates make up a growing tumor that can affect different sized portions of the colon or rectal mucosa.
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Colon cancer often begins in the form of an agglomeration of the precancerous cells, called polyps. They are located in the mucosal lining of the large intestine and they have a shape similar to that of a mushroom. Rarely, precancerous changes can be flat in the intestine. These kinds of polyps are more difficult to detect. The removal of polyps and non-polyp lesions can prevent the development of colon cancer.



Inherited genetic mutations can also increase the risk of colon cancer development. However, if a person family medical history has a case of colon cancer, it doesn’t mean that he will automatically get the disease, but the risk is higher. The heritage can only increase the risk of the disease in a few cases.

Non-polyp hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome called “lynch” increases the risk of colon cancer before the age of 50 years. Both familial polyps and colorectal cancer can be detected by this hereditary genetic testing. If there are cases of colon cancer in the family is appropriate to ask the doctor to make these tests. Anyway, the risk of colon cancer development is higher after the age of 50.



For a form of cancer to occur, there must be something that hits or disturbs the cell nucleus. Some people are born with a predisposition for cancer. Their cells may be more vulnerable to any disease that leads to cancer. For others, the disease comes after, for many years, they have been exposed to substances that can cause cancer. Tobacco, regardless of its source, is harmful. Certain chemicals, unprotected sun exposure and radiation can cause serious illnesses and favor cancer. An unhealthy every day diet, based on high fat food can also favorite the development of the disease, and so, it can be a cause of colon cancer.

Because the causes that lead to colon cancer development are not easy to detect or prevent, you should have regular medical checks, and if smoothing may appear as being wrong you should go to a doctor immediately. If it the disease is diagnosed at the beginning of its evolution in can be treated easily.

The main roles of the colon are the absorption of water and electrolytes in the proximal half and the depositing feces to eliminate them in middle distance. Because of these roles, movements in the colon are slow. These movements have two types: mixed and propellant. Colon irritations are intense and they are stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, thing that can initiate intensive mass movements.
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Epidemiological studies have tried to establish links between the incidence of colon cancer and geographical factors, dietary factors, relations with polyps, familial nature of some cancers or blood lost. The radiologist must know and must be able to recognize the concentration of these factors in a given case, in order to give a proper diagnostic and discover the smallest accidents or protrusions of colic mucosa.



A patient can notice mucous and blood in the stools for several weeks before thinking that something is wrong and going to the doctor. This happens in some cases because there is no pain associated with this symptom. So, mucus covered bowel movement and colon cancer can be developed. That is one of the symptoms that can tell you that you need to have a medical check.

However, a certain amount of mucus is regularly present in normal stools of healthy persons too. Although, the mucus can be present in the stool when a patient has hemorrhoids or intestinal parasites, mucus in stools may be sometimes the only symptoms in small or large intestinal polyps or cancer. The thing is that you have to be very careful about mucus covered bowel movement and colon cancer. It may not be very alarming at first but it can be the best change to detect the cancer before it develops and spreads to other parts of the body.



This has a big influence because the contraction of the colon muscles and the movement of the elements that it contains are made through nerves, impulses in colon or hormones control. This movement causes also the moving in the colon of the elements that were left after the digest made by the digestive system. In this process, water and some of the nutrients are absorbed in the body, while the other elements, called residues are left is the stool to be then eliminated. This is a normal process that happens in every normal body. Every day the contractions send the stool trough the colon determines a bowel movement. However, if the muscles do not contract, or if they do so, it is in the wrong way, the elements that are inside the colon do not move correctly. In these cases abdominal pain, constipation, or a sensation of incomplete stool movement can be present. It is necessary that the mucus be eliminated through a natural way, instead of forcing this process, because the body tends to restore it anyway.

Colon cancer is one of the most treatable kinds of cancers. Colon cancer is primarily a hereditary disease. Nowadays, it is one of the most common diseases that affect equally both men and women, aged over 50 and 60 years, but these people are not the only ones affected. Many young people are diagnosed with colon cancer too. However, if detected early, the disease is treatable.
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Prevention is the first step in curing colon cancer and knowing the risk factors of the disease the best chance to detect it before it becomes a real problem. Because the symptoms of colon cancer appear only when the disease is already in an advanced stage, and chances of cure are very low, you have to be extra careful about any sign that may tell you that something is wrong. If someone in your family had colon cancer the risk of developing the disease is higher for you, because colon cancer seems to be a hereditary disease.



If you want to reduce your chances in developing colon cancer, you should have a healthy diet, a balanced and rich in fruits, vegetables and fiber diet. You should quit smoking also. Another risk factor it the inflammations of the digestive tract. Lack of exercise should be replaced with regular exercises in fresh air. Diet high in fat should be completely avoided, as well as heavy drinking.

If smoking is considered a risk factor in developing colon cancer, what about passive smoking. Second hand smoke is a colon cancer risk but not a primary one. If in lung cancer cases, the passive smoke is considered a risk factor almost as important as the active smoking, in colon cancer some researchers consider that second hand smoking alone can not determine the disease development. However, it is a risk factor, because after many years of being a subject of passive smoking, your lungs may look the same as the lungs of a smoker.



Second hand smoke as a colon cancer risk should not be ignored. The fact about colon cancer is that there is not a single cause, or a group of causes that determine the disease. This is way passive smoking with an unhealthy diet and the lack of regular exercises can increase the risk of developing colon cancer. In general, pollution is one of the colon cancer causes, although the exact influence of this risk factor has not been established. Second hand smoke and colon cancer risks should be avoided as much as possible because although the disease is not difficult to treat if discovered early, the absence of symptoms makes that most colon cancer cases are diagnosed in last stages, when the disease has already spread in the patients’ body.

Colonoscopy is the method that with endo-light explores in the real image, the anal area, the rectum and the sigmoid, with the ability to check the area by descending, transverse and ascending the colon.
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With colonoscopy the colon lesions can be identified. Usually this exploration will be done if blood is found in the stool or if the person has persistent intestinal transit disorders such as constipation, diarrhea and especially alternating between constipation and diarrhea.

The colonoscopy procedure lasts an average of 15-20 minutes, but that time is varying significantly depending on the individual conformation of the colon and the presence or absence in his medical past of a surgery in the abdomen. During this examination a biopsy can be taken if there are injuries that require this. Biopsy sampling is done only with the consent of the patient. In most cases, an average of eight cases out of ten, the procedure is painless. However in the cases in which the patient has pain, drugs can be administrated.



The patient preparation for colonoscopy usually begins the day before exploration. Preparation requires a fasting period which varies depending on the time that will be exploring. An average fasting period should be about 20-24 hours. Also, in the meantime, preparation involves ingestion of a solution to clean the intestine, in order to have an optimal visibility for the examination.

After the procedure you will have some restrictions. For example, the doctor will tell you that you can not drive the whole day after the colon cancer colonoscopy has been done. You may be also asked to avoid drinking alcohol until 24 hours after the intervention. If, within the 24 hours after the colonoscopy, you have chills, fever, excessive rectal bleeding, severe abdominal pain or bloating or swelling you should consult your doctor immediately. However, slow abdominal pain and bloating are expected after a colonoscopy, but if the pain persists something may be wrong.



Generally, the colonoscopy is a safe procedure and the appearance of a complication is not likely to happen. Anyway, like in every medical intervention, complications can appear especially if a polyp is removed during the intervention. Complications during a colonoscopy in searching for colon cancer tumors can include perforation, bleeding, bad reaction to anesthetic or an infection.

The colonoscopy is a very detailed exploration of the large intestine starting at the rectum and to the small intestine using a device as thin flexible tube called endoscope. The endoscope is equipped with a tiny camera and with a light source, which transmits images to a monitor. Starting with the age of 50 years old you should do a colonoscopy every year even if you do not present any of the colon cancer symptoms.

Colon cancer is one of the main causes of the death among cancer patients all over the world. When diagnosed with colon cancer, especially if the disease is in one of the last stages of evolution, patients start wondering how does colon cancer cause death.
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There are many ways that can lead a colon cancer patient to death. The first one is not taking treatment at all. Some people do not believe in medicines, doctors or medical techniques. That is way even if they know that they are ill, they decide not to take any treatment and die naturally “at home”. This often happens in old aged patients and patients diagnosed with the end stage of colon cancer that think that there is no hope for them. This may not be true because cases of colon cancer patients in the forth stage of the disease that were cured are known.



The second situation in which colon cancer can lead to the patient death is the diagnoses in the most advanced stage of the disease. As soon as discovered colon cancer is a disease very easy to treat, but when the diagnosis comes in the last stage of colon cancer evolution, the chances of cure are about 10 percent. This happens because in stage 4 the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body and has formed other tumors on the liver, lungs, bones or sometimes even on the brain. The number of tumors that were formed and the exact location of those tumors can be a factor that stands between the patient death and cure. Often treatment does not work in so advanced stages because the cancer weakens the body of the individuals and so their fight with the disease is not at the level is should have been. Chemotherapy also has some side effects that can affect the general health of the patients, but is some cases chemotherapy can stop the cancer form growing and actually make the disease withdraw.



Colon cancer causes death by growing and spreading sometimes very rapidly. Many tumors are developed and they start having different symptoms like anemia, nausea, vomiting, general weakness and tiredness and a general decline of the individual health. When the cancer affects the lung, the breathing system is also affected, the patients has difficulties breathing and stats coughing all the time, sometimes with blood. When the liver is affected, patients have difficulties in eating and they feel pain almost every time. Colon cancer causes death by killing all the healthy parts, cells and organs of the body and it does that in a very rapid way, cancer spread and evolution being one of the most serious in all diseases. No medication was found that can cure cancer and that is way colon cancer is one of the most serious death cause all over the world.

The metastases are the outbreak of cancer cells which formed an initial cancer, called primitive and developed by other part of the body. Metastasis of cancer is the final stage of spontaneous evolution of most cancers. The first step is the expand of the local initial cancer. The second stage is the spread to the lymph nodes through lymphatic ducts located in the tissues. Metastases proliferate faster than the initial cancer. They are also more resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Therapeutic strategies take also into account the risk of metastases Treatment often does not work if the metastases are numerous and are located to many parts of the body.
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The same thing happens in colon cancer case. When colon cancer reaches the fourth stage of its evolution, it can spread to other organs and parts of the body. Usually, the organs affected by colon cancer metastases are the lung and the liver. So, colon cancer and focal lesions in the liver can be developed by the same patient who has diagnosed with the end stage of colon cancer. In these cases, treatment usually involves surgical intervention in the colon and the liver and chemotherapy before and after the surgery. In some cases the surgery can not be performed, and when many focal lesions are developed in the liver, the chances of cure are very low. If the cancer is very advanced, treatment may not work and so the disease can cause the patient death.



Metastatic tumors to the liver are very common in colon cancer patients and early detection is crucial for them. Colon cancer is one of a few malignant tumors in which the presence of limited synchronous liver metastases can allow surgical interventions. This depends on the number and localization of the liver metastases and the patient medical state. Surgery is very important because the 5-year survival of these patients is between 30 percent and 48 percent in comparison to a survival of less than 5 percent for patients with liver metastases that can not have a liver surgery.



However, the liver is the first organ where colon cancer spreads, followed by the lungs. At the time of diagnosis 10 to 20 percent of cancers had already metastases. Colon cancer and focal lesions in the liver are more difficult to treat when surgery can not be performed. Although chemotherapy techniques have improved in the last years, the survival rates are much lower when operation to remove the tumor can not be done. So, before the tumors grow in the liver, as they did in the colon, surgery can be and should be performed. This is way the detection of the cancer as quickly as possible is the most important element regarding colon cancer cure.

Psychological support, discussions with the patient through which he is encouraged to express his feelings and that supports him, plays an important role in the whole process of diagnosis, treatment, cure or aggravation of colon cancer and unfortunately, sometimes death.
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You have to know that in the United States, patients have certain rights that are guaranteed by law. There are many organizations that can give you all kind of support, form legal to moral one. Patient Advocate Foundation, General Assistance programs, The National Cancer Institute, The National Patient Travel Helpline and Cancer Survivors Online are just some of the patient assistance programs for colon cancer.




In the United States there are also some Patients Assistance Programs, PAPs, partially subsidize or dispense free drugs to uninsured or underinsured individuals. Patient Assistance Programs are offered by some pharmaceutical manufacturers to help pay for medications. Through these programs dugs and assistance can be provided for colon cancer patients that are poor and can not afford the medication for this disease. People can actually have many benefits form these programs, like taxes deduction, discounts, and financial assistance and in the last years, the pharmaceutical industry has been much more aggressive in promoting Patients Assistance Programs and making the process easier for patients and providers.



In Canada, however, there is another method by which the patients learn to cope with the crisis, healing from within. In this program, patients are encouraged to help themselves, using the latent power of mind and their spirit. In the past 27 years, thousands of patients diagnosed with cancer and their family members attended the program at a major center for cancer treatment in Toronto, Canada. Here patients learn concepts such as the idea that much of the discomfort they feel is caused by reaction to the diagnosis than the disease itself. The program has five stages and is organized in steps, so that the patient can stop whenever he wants. The first module, called “Coping with cancer stress” includes four meetings of groups of half past one hour. At this stage, self-healing spells terrorists and two methods of deep relaxation are learned by every patient. The second module, entitled “Qualities for healing” has eight sessions in which patients are encouraged to keep a journal and meditate. In the next level, “Steps to spiritual healing” patients with psychologists examine universal tendency to judge themselves, the guilt, and the projection of blame onto others. In the fourth mode knowledge are consolidated by patients and in the last level spiritual texts are studied, for patients to realize that healing involves self-knowledge. This is just another type of patient assistance program for colon cancer, which some people decide to do, and for some of them it is a real support.