Colon cancer is one of the worst diseases which may affect an individual. Even if the disease is not difficult to treat in stage zero or stage one, when it reaches the last stage colon cancer is very hard to treat. But what are colon cancer stages?

Colon cancer, like other types of cancers is staged according to the disease evolution in the individual body. The earliest stages of the disease correspond to the tumors formation and the last stages to the tumors spread. Colon cancer has in total five stages. In stage zero a group of abnormal cells are seen at screening tests by doctors. These cells have the potential of becoming cancerous and they can be easily removed before they grow and become a problem. These cells can be cancerous at the time of discovery or they can have the predisposal in becoming cancerous. In this stage there are no symptoms and the cells make no threat to the persons well of being.



In stage one the tumor extends to the colon wall. It this stage the cancer is still incipient. It can affect the inner tissue layer, but it does not leave the colon area. In stage two starts spreading in the colon wall and in the surrounding tissues. In this two stages colon cancer can be treated by the surgical interventions which can remove the cancerous tumors. In stage three things start being more complicated because of the cancer spread. This stage is one of the colon cancer advanced stages. The tumors have affected the middle layers and it is formed in at least three lymph nodes, with the possibility to affect nearby tissues or organs, such as the ovaries. In stage four, the last stage of colon cancer, the tumors spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, the liver or the bones using the blood or lymph system. In these last two stages the chances of cure are very low, the survival rates being at about 10 to 20 percent in colon cancer stage four. However, in both stages surgery can be performed and when it is not possible because of the general spread of cancer or the bad state of health of the patients, chemotherapy can be applied. Chemotherapy through the administration of different dugs can be a way of fighting against colon cancer and actually defeating the disease.



Colon cancer stages were established by doctors because of the need to diagnose the cancer exact state of evolution. Treatment can be different according to the stage of the disease. In some cases the cancer can be cured while in others it is too late for treatment to work and the patient death can occur.