Cáncer de colon

A Colonoscopia uses a tube with a light and a small camera to let your doctor look at the inside of your entire colon. During a colonoscopy, your provider may take tissue samples or remove polyps to help diagnose cancer.

A Sigmoidoscopia, including flexible sigmoidoscopy, uses a small tube and camera to view the inside of the colon and look for signs of cancer. While colonoscopy looks at the whole colon, sigmoidoscopy only looks at the bottom portion of the colon.

Las pruebas fecales o de heces le permiten tomar una muestra (o varias muestras) de sus heces en casa y luego enviarlas a un laboratorio para buscar sangre o ADN oculto que pueda indicar cáncer. Las pruebas de heces para el cáncer de colon más comunes incluyen pruebas de sangre oculta en heces a base de guayaco, pruebas inmunoquímicas en heces y pruebas de ADN en heces.

Su médico puede ordenar análisis de sangre, como un hemograma completo, un panel metabólico completo o un ensayo CEA. Estos podrían ayudar a identificar niveles anormales de células o antígenos en la sangre o descartar otras afecciones.

A veces llamado colonoscopia virtual, este procedimiento utiliza tomografía computarizada (TC) para crear imágenes de su colon. Luego, estas imágenes se revisan para buscar pólipos o cáncer en el colon.

Para observar más de cerca su colon y detectar cáncer, su médico puede usar un enema de bario. Este procedimiento de rayos X en movimiento, o fluoroscopia, inyecta bario en el colon a través del recto para cubrirlo y crear imágenes.

Surgery is a common treatment in all stages of colon cancer. The goal of surgery is to remove all or part of the cancerous cells. Many of our care locations offer advanced, minimally invasive options, including Laparoscopia o Cirugía asistida por robot, which use smaller incisions to help speed up recovery.  

Algunas opciones quirúrgicas incluyen:

• Polypectomy, a procedure done through endoscopy (colonoscopy) to remove a cancerous polyp
• Colectomy, a surgery to remove a section of the colon affected by cancer or all of the colon
• Colectomy with colostomy, a procedure that removes all or part of the colon and connects the top of the colon to an opening in the abdomen and a bag to collect stool, which can be temporary or permanent

Quimioterapia drugs are sometimes used to treat colon cancer by shrinking or destroying cancer cells. This treatment option is often used with surgery and is most common in stage 3 and stage 4 colon cancer.

En algunos casos, Terapia de radiación is used to treat colon cancer. It destroys cancer with targeted high-energy rays. Radiation therapy is less common than chemotherapy or surgery in colon cancer and is often used in the later stages of the condition.

This type of treatment targets specific genes or proteins in cancer cells to prevent them from continuing to grow or multiply. One of the most common targeted therapies is Anticuerpos monoclonicos.

Inmunoterapia is an innovative treatment for colon cancer that uses the body’s immune system to destroy cancer. Cells are often modified in the lab and then infused into the blood to help fight cancer better.