Stage four colon cancer, or metastatic colon cancer, is when the tumor has spread outside the colon. This is often managed with chemotherapy alone or, in select cases, a combination of chemotherapy and surgery depending on the patient, tumor properties and where the metastases are located.
In some cases, it is not possible to surgically remove all of these tumors. In that case, the primary goal of treatment is to manage the cancer or, in other words, to prevent the cancer from growing, spreading and causing symptoms. A combination of patient factors and tumor properties determine which chemotherapy will be used to treat metastatic colon cancer.
Read More In terms of patient factors, the doctor will take into consideration things like patient age and how well the patient would be able to tolerate the side effects of chemotherapy. Regarding the specifics of the tumor, the genetic mutations (for example, BRAF and KRAS are two genes that are looked at when evaluating colon cancers) and location of the primary colon tumor are taken into consideration. All of these things are evaluated together, and ultimately used to determine which chemotherapy regimen will be recommended.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
