Treatment options

Your specialist team will advise which, if any, of the below are suitable for you:

 

Surgery

The main treatment for colorectal cancer is surgery, but sometimes patients may require other treatments, depending on the site and stage of their cancer. For some rectal cancers, a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is needed to reduce the size of the tumour before surgery. After surgery, the final stage of your cancer will be known and additional treatments may be recommended. This may be in the form of chemotherapy, and less commonly, radiotherapy.

Read more about cancer surgery at Royal Surrey.

Learn more about the types of surgery available for bowel cancer on the Macmillan website.

 

Radiotherapy

This treatment uses high energy rays to destroy cancer cells, while doing as little harm as possible to normal cells. Radiotherapy is usually used to treat cancer of the rectum, although it can be used on other areas of the bowel to relieve symptoms and occasionally is given to other areas of the body.

Learn more about radiotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.

 

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment which is used to try and kill cancer cells, reduce the risk of the cancer coming back, or stop cancer cells from spreading. Occasionally it is not possible to perform surgery, therefore chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy may be offered to try to stop the cancer advancing, and to control symptoms. This is known as palliative treatment. There are various types of drugs that can be used at different stages of a treatment plan.

Discover more about chemotherapy at Royal Surrey Cancer Centre.