Colon cancer or colorectal cancer is one important cancer. In the western world, this cancer is considered as the third most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of death that are cancer-related.

Colon cancer causes 655,000 deaths every year. This type of cancer happens primarily on the person's colon, rectum and the appendix the moment cancerous growths appear on these areas. Many practitioners believed that these kinds of cancers arise from the so-called adenomatous polyps in the colon of one person. These polyps that look like mushrooms will usually start up as benign, but this can turn into cancer after some time.

Treatment For Colon Cancer
The treatment of colon cancer on one person is dependent on the status or the stage of the cancer. When the colon cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, then this cancer can be cured. But when detected on its late stage, the probability of having this cancer cured begins to fall as well.

Amongst the many treatments that are available right now, the more popular and the one considered as a primary treatment is surgery. Surgery that can be used to treat this cancer can be called curative, palliative, bypass, fecal diversion or can be labeled as open or close. The curative type is for the colon cancer where tumor is localized. Among these types of surgeries, the one used on worst cases is the open-and-close surgery. This happens when the surgeons who perform the operation find the tumor is unresectable and small bowel is the one involved.

There is also the Laparoscopic-assisted colectomy and this is considered as the minimally-invasive technique. This can reduce the size of the incision and also lessen post-operative pains that can be experienced by the patient. Another treatment that can be used to address this cancer is chemotherapy. This type of treatment helps reduce the likelihood of the development of metastasis, slow the growth of tumor and at the same time shrink the size of tumor. The use of chemotherapy as a treatment is used usually before the surgery or as the primary therapy.

Radiation therapy is another treatment used in the medical field. But this isn't used in a regular basis as this kind of therapy can lead to radiation enteritis. This kind of therapy is often used in rectal cancer since the rectum is easy to target. Often chemotherapy agents are used in conjunction with this kind of therapy in order to increase the effectiveness of the radiation.

The use of immunotherapy is in the works right now, as a treatment that can be used to address colon cancer. A vaccine is also in development right now in order to be used to combat the cancer. It was in November 2006 when this vaccine was announced and based on tests results, this vaccine can be an effective treatment for the cancer. The vaccine called TroVax harness the body's immune system in order to fight the cancer. Most of these treatments usually come complete with support therapies, since most patients suffer a change in their psychological well-being.