Colon cancer is one of the deaths leading causes for cancer patients in both United States, in Japan and in Europe. Colon cancer is a disease that can be formed in the colon or rectum and that affects both men and women, usually over 50 years old.

This disease is easier to treat if it is diagnosed in the first stage, and very difficult to cure if it is diagnosed in the last stage. But what are the stages of colon cancer?



Colon cancer, like other types of cancers has five stages that are established according to the tumor evolution. Stage zero is the earliest one, the stage in which the cancer is forming. In stage zero, the tumor has not left it’s original place, the innermost lining of the colon. In stage one, the tumor has extended and it has passed the innermost layer to the middle layers of the colon. From there the tumor continues evolving and so in stage two it passes the middle layers of the colon. In stage three colon cancer affects at least three lymph nodes, while in stage four the tumor spreads to other parts of the body and affects the liver, the lung or even the brains.

So, the first stages of colon cancer correspond to the forming of the tumors, while the last ones to its spread. Colon cancer stage four is the most advanced one, the stage in which the tumor is the most difficult to cure. In stage three the disease starts spreading, but is only affects nearby tissues and organs. In stage four it can affect far way organs such as the brain, although the situation is not very common.



The disease treatments depend on what are the stages of colon cancer diagnoses. In the first stages, form zero to two, the treatment is based on surgical interventions. In the last two stages, surgery is performed also, but the operation may not be possible. However, chemotherapy and radiation therapies are also applied. Although, in stage three and four the cancers can still be cured in many situations, the chances for treatment to work are very low and this mostly happens in stage four, when the disease can cause the patients death.

So, colon cancer stages show the general evolution of the disease and if it has spread or not and as, we can see, in colon cancer last stages, the disease usually spreads. In general, stage three and four colon cancer survival rates are not very optimistic. However, this does not mean that there are no chances for patients diagnosed in one of these stages. Treatment can actually work and the tumors can stop their growth and they can also withdraw.