Surgery

Surgery aims at removing the colon or rectum or a part of it affected by the cancer, with or without the adjacent lymph nodes using one of following approaches. The type of surgery depends on the type, size, location and the extent of the cancer spread.

• Polypectomy: Polypectomy involves removal of the polyps which are small adenomatous growth that are present in the inner lining of the wall of colon. They are removed using colonoscopy.
• Colectomy: Colectomy involves removing the part or whole of the colon with the cancer and some of the surrounding tissue. This can be done in two ways:
  • Traditional open colectomy: involves removal of the part or whole of the colon through single large incision in the abdomen.
  • Laparoscopic colectomy: most commonly used procedure in which colectomy is done through multiple small incisions of about 5-10mm size using laparoscope and specialized laparoscopic surgical instruments.
• Chemotherapy: involves giving medicines either intravenously or orally to attack and kill the cancerous cells. This therapy can be used before the surgery in order to shrink the size of the tumour or after the surgery to eliminate the cancer cells, if left any. Chemotherapy is also given to slow down the advancing cancer and to relieve the symptoms in case of extensive cancer.
• Radiation therapy:involves delivery of high powered energy beam like protons or X-rays to specifically target cancer cells without or minimally affecting the normal healthy cells of the body. It can be used in combination with chemotherapy either before or after the surgery, or may be used for relieving the symptoms associated with cancer if the cancer is extensive and cure is not possible.

If you are suffering from any of the above mentioned symptoms, you should see a doctor immediately who would advise tests to confirm the diagnosis. If you are diagnosed with colon cancer, you need to start the treatment immediately.

Surgery is often the treatment of choice to cure most of the colon cancers.

Colectomy or the colon resection surgery is performed using minimally invasive, that is, laparoscopic approach. It can be done using traditional method but due the advantages of less pain, less invasive, less recovery time, shorter hospital stay, less trauma and injury to the surrounding tissues and less scarring, laparoscopic approach is the choice of surgery for most of the patients.

This is done under general anaesthesia and the whole procedure takes around 1-2 hour to complete.

During the procedure, 4-5 small incisions of 5-10mm are made in the abdomen to insert the laparoscope, which is a thin tube with little video camera attached that enables the surgeon to view inside the abdomen on the monitor.

The surgeon then inserts the laparoscopic surgical instrument via another incision and excises the cancerous part of the colon along with the nearby lymph nodes and removes it from body. He then attaches back the healthy ends of the colon and sutures the incision on the abdomen.

After the surgery, the patient is moved to the recovery where he shall be kept under observation. One may experience pain and discomfort, which is relieved with medicines. The patient is given fluids to recover well. One can expect return to normal activities after 3-4 weeks of the surgery as body needs time for recovering from the stress of the surgery. One should restrict lifting heavy objects. Walking should be encouraged.

The results of colon surgery depend on the stage of pancreas cancer. If detected early, there is a good chance of complete recovery.

If only surgery for treatment of colon cancer is required, one would need around 2 weeks for colon cancer surgery in India. But if chemotherapy and radiotherapy or other means of treatment are also required, the patient would need few weeks for colon cancer treatment in India.