Over 100,000 people are diagnosed with colon cancer, and 40,000 with rectal cancer, every year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. These cancers, which usually arise in the form of growths called polyps, affect the gastrointestinal tract.
According to Nadine McCleary, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist at the Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment Center at Dana-Farber, colon and rectal cancers – commonly referred to collectively as colorectal cancer – are joined together when the treatment for each is similar. This typically occurs when the cancer is advanced.
Fortunately, polyps can be caught early with screenings and removed to reduce the risk of more advanced cancer. A colonoscopy still remains the best and most effective method of screening the intestinal tract for signs of the disease.
If caught early, colon cancer is typically treated with surgery first. Then, depending on the extent of the disease at the time of surgery, the cancer is further treated with post-operative treatments. In the case of rectal cancer, the patient usually undergoes chemotherapy and radiation before surgery and chemotherapy again after surgery.
“One thing that’s very important to us at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is the multidisciplinary approach to care,” McCleary said in a recent Facebook Live on the Dana-Farber Facebook page. “We include a number of very expert professionals in the field who know how to best treat cancer; researchers, who are working on experimental therapies in the lab and novel approaches to treatment; and supportive care providers, to ensure that patients have the best quality of life possible.”
Since chemotherapy is the primary treatment for colorectal cancer – the most advanced form of the disease – research spearheaded by Dana-Farber is exploring how to best deliver chemotherapy to reduce the risk of toxicity by shortening rounds from six months to three months.
“How do we help our patients in tolerating therapy? How do we bring together the best areas of study to optimize patient outcomes? Supporting patients during the entire journey is most important to me,” McCleary said.
Learn more from the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.