Overview of Your Treatment Ch... Health Article

New treatments for colorectal cancer are being studied all the time. That means there is now more hope for survival than ever before. There are 2 main kinds of treatment for colorectal cancer.

• Local treatments remove, destroy, or control cancer cells in a certain area. Surgery and radiation therapy are examples of local treatments.

• Systemic treatments destroy or control cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy is usually a systemic treatment.

You may have just one kind of treatment. Or you may have a combination of treatments that are both local and systemic.

The treatment choices you have depend on several things.

• Type, size, and location of the tumor

• Results of lab tests

• Stage of the disease

• Your overall health

• Your age

• Your personal needs and concerns

• Whether the cancer has come back