Colon Cancer

Colon cancer often means surgery, chemotherapy and possibly radiation. These complex medical treatments come with unpleasant side effects yet the idea of treating a colon cancer tumor without surgery is one that some patients are willing and eager to pursue.

Chemotherapy is a broad name for one or more drugs that may be used to treat colon cancer. Different types of drugs are tailored to the particular type of cancer and the stage of the cancer. Chemotherapy drugs can be administered to a patient intravenously by injection or pump and some can be taken in pill form.

Primary chemotherapy is used for advanced colorectal cancer that has migrated to other organs in the body. Because the damage is substantial or the organ cannot be removed safely, chemotherapy provides a non-surgical alternative to reduce cancerous tumors and reduce symptoms.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is used to treat cancer that was found early. Using these drugs with radiation may shrink the tumors enough as a treatment so that surgery may not be required or if required the surgery would be easier on the patient.

The most widely used chemotherapy drug for colon cancer is 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU). This drug may be combined with other substances such as leucovorin (a vitamin). A new drug, Avastin, has shown promise when combined with 5-FU. A 2004 study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a combination of 5-FU, Avastin, Leucovorin and Comptosar was notably effective for colon cancer that is metastatic. A pill form of 5-FU known by the trade name, Xeloda, can be prescribed for patients whose colon cancer has spread to liver, ovaries, lungs or other organs.

Chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells yet it leaves a wake of toxic chemicals in the body while targeting the invaders. High quality nutrition, vitamins and minerals are extremely important for patients to help their bodies process away the drugs. Natural healing practitioners believe that using a toxic chemical to treat a disease is to create yet more problems that are not necessary. Naturopaths favor strengthening the body's natural immune system because they believe that a healthy body fights cancer cells from inside better than can be done from outside. Vitamin B17 is a natural treatment option because it attacks and destroys cancer cells yet does not harm healthy cells. Once the cancer cells are dead, they are taken out like garbage by the body's enzymes and white blood cells.

For patients who want to treat colon cancer tumor by dissolving it without surgery, an open dialogue with the oncologist needs to occur. Patients may choose to do additional research and visit treatment centers with various approaches to non-surgical treatment of colon cancer. Whatever treatment choice that is made by a patient and family, there are often second and third options that may be engaged depending on the success of the initial choice. Most important is that patients with colon cancer take action as soon as possible to treat this disease which, with early detection and treatment, has a good potential for improvement and survival.

Alternative Colon Cancer Treatment |