Colorectal Cancer Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy is one of three main conventional treatments offered at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) for colorectal cancer. CTCA oncologists may suggest chemotherapy for your colorectal cancer treatment before or after surgery.

Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs designed to interfere with the rapidly dividing cancer cells in the body. Chemotherapy drugs work to either destroy cancer cells outright, or impede their ability to grow and reproduce.

Chemotherapy is usually administered intravenously (i.e., through the vein), orally in the form of pills, or intra-arterially through the hepatic artery. Your doctor may recommend a central port placement to help protect your veins from chemotherapy-related side effects.

Three primary ways chemotherapy is used for colorectal cancer treatment:

• Neoadjuvant or primary systemic chemotherapy – may be used before surgery to destroy colorectal cancer cells. It also allows your physician to determine the effectiveness of a particular regimen.
• Adjuvant chemotherapy – may be used after surgery or radiation to further target any possible colorectal cancer cells that were not removed during surgery, and/or to prevent colorectal cancer from spreading to other parts of your body, such as the liver.
• Systemic chemotherapy – plays an important role in the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer.

CTCA colorectal cancer doctors will do everything they can to help make your chemotherapy as tolerable as possible. To help reduce some common side effects associated with traditional chemotherapy, we also offer innovative chemotherapy delivery methods.

Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy (IAC), a type of regional chemotherapy, is an innovative technique that allows chemotherapy drugs to be concentrated directly in the area of the tumor. If your colon or rectal cancer has metastasized to your liver, IAC may be a colorectal cancer treatment option for you. Intra-arterial chemotherapy delivers anti-cancer drugs directly to the liver through the hepatic artery.

Chemoembolization is one form of intra-arterial chemotherapy used in colorectal cancer treatment. While chemoembolization delivers chemotherapy directly to the liver, it also uses chemotherapy agents, in addition to a microsphere, to temporarily block the flow of blood to the tumor. This traps chemotherapy drugs in the area of the tumor, helping to target the treatment area.

During your colorectal cancer treatment, CTCA physicians will monitor the effects of chemotherapy through physical exams, blood tests, CT scans, MRI scans, and X-rays.

Chemotherapy may cause common side effects such as fatigue, hair loss, nausea, or suppression of bone marrow function. In an effort to help minimize some of these side effects, CTCA provides complementary therapy options such as nutrition therapy, naturopathic medicine, and mind-body medicine. These therapies may be helpful before, during and after chemotherapy.

Next Colorectal Cancer Treatment: Fractionated-Dose Chemotherapy