Metastatic Colon Cancer

Metastatic colon cancer comes about when the cancer cells travel out of their primary site and settle in a site that is far from their originated site. Colon cancer begins with normal cells. Under certain conditions, these cells multiply at a faster than normal rate, develop, and differentiate into abnormal cells. These now form tumors that are either benign or malignant.

There is a great difference benign and malignant. Benign tumors are the ones that do not grow outside their primary site. Once they hit the boundary tissue, they stop multiplying. Malignant cells are quite the opposite. They develop at a much faster rate and crowd normal cells out of their own sites. With malignant cells, cancer sets in.

Just like all other cancer types, colon cancer can metastasize. Metastatic colon cancer is when cancer cells travel and settle in a site away from the primary site. Many believe that colon cancer metastasize because of several reasons. Two of these are the following:

1. When there is lymph node involvement, the cancer cells will have access to other sites. They use the nodes to travel and settle in sites that are far from their primary site.

2. With constant trauma or friction applied to the cancer cells, some of them get mechanically displaced. Once displaced, they could get lodged in an area and start to develop in their new site.

Metastatic colon cancer is usually a sign that not only has the cancer become more serious, it also means that other organs now are affected. This is why they say that the cancer has spread. In this case, the cancer is also in its late stage making recovery difficult to achieve.

Signs and Symptoms

When colon cancer metastasizes, an individual suffering from it will feel that his previous signs and symptoms have aggravated. Here are some of the general signs and symptoms of metastatic colon cancer: belly pain, blood in stools, unexplainable weight loss, constant feeling of tiredness, and changes in bowel habits. Since the cancer has spread, new signs and symptom are also added. These are manifested depending on the site where the cancer has spread. Below are just some of the things that a person will experience according to where the cancer cells have settled.

Lungs

When the cancer cells metastasize in the lungs, the person will usually have cough, blood in the sputum or spit, and may even have difficulty in breathing.

Liver

With liver involvement, a person will usually have a constant feeling of fullness, bloated stomach, yellowed skin or jaundice, and clay colored stools.

Kidneys

A person whose colon cancer has spread to the kidneys can have difficulty in urination. Also, either this exists alone or with liver involvement, the person becomes more prone to drug toxicity. This is why people whose colon cancer has spread to these organs use medications under strict medical supervision to avoid toxicity.

Brain

When the colon cancer cells spread to the brain, the person will show problems with his memory such as deficits, difficulty with concentration and focus, problems with his balance, and even hormonal changes.

Bones

If the cancer cells settle in the bones, there is the characteristic bone pain. Usually, this is felt in the back, pelvis, and hips.

Metastatic Colon Cancer Treatment

Most of the time, doctors will have a hard time treating cancer that has metastasized. This is because they have to consider the site and organ affected as well as the areas surrounding it. They cannot give a radical treatment to get rid of the cancer cells. They have to consider the characteristics of the normal cells in the area as well as the organ that normal and abnormal cells are contained. If they just forgo with any radical procedure, the patient could end up with another problem.

As it is, there are three treatment modalities for metastatic colon cancer.

Chemotherapy

This treatment involves the injection of chemotherapeutic agents. These act by killing the rapidly dividing cancer cells. However, this also can affect non cancer cells since there are normal cells that rapidly divide such as those in the hair and skin.

Radiation Therapy

This employs the same goal as that of chemotherapy but uses radiation to kill the abnormal cells.

Surgery

Surgical removal of cancer cells is recommended when they are ‘resectable’.

Metastatic colon cancer may be inevitable for some, but it shouldn’t cause loss of hope. As long as there are still things that can be done, the fight against cancer should still push through.

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