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Cancer is abnormal masses formed by the uncontrolled growth of cells in any organ. Cancers of the large intestine are among the most common of all cancer types. They can give a wide variety of symptoms:

  1. Bleeding from the breech. For this reason, their detection may be delayed in the presence of hemorrhoid disease or anal fissure (crack). Therefore, when a diagnosis of hemorrhoid disease or anal fissure is made, especially if the patient is over 40 years of age, a mass-tumor that will cause bleeding in the large intestine should be investigated by colonoscopy.

  2. Anemia. Tumors on the right side of the large intestine, in particular, cause a decrease in blood values and anemia, although they do not cause significant bleeding because they bleed little by little.

  3. Change in bowel habits. Tumors in the large intestine can manifest with changes in the defecation habits that the person has been accustomed to until then. A person who makes a big toilet once a day, goes to the toilet 3 times a day in a short time or diarrhea-constipation attacks may be a symptom of the tumor.  

  4. Fecal-wide thinning. Especially in tumors in the rectum, a decrease in the diameter of the stool can be seen as a result of the tumor narrowing the diameter of the intestine.

  5. Inability to pass gas and stool. In cases where the tumor completely obstructs the intestine, patients can apply to the Emergency Department. 

  6. Weight loss. Severe weight loss that is unexpected in a short time can be a symptom.

Removal of the diseased area within safe limits is the main principle of treatment in cancers located in the colon. The main goal is to leave no visible tumor tissue behind after the surgery. If the disease is in the right half of the ascending or transverse colon, the right half of the colon is removed, and if the disease is in the left half of the descending or transverse colon, the left half of the colon is removed. For tumors located in the sigmoid colon, the sigmoid colon is removed along with some of the descending colon and rectum. After the diseased tissue is removed, the remaining intestinal ends are stitched together. In rare cases, it may be necessary to temporarily bag the bowel out (colostomy). The stage of the tumor is determined according to the depth of progression in the colon wall and lymph node metastasis, if the tumor has not protruded beyond the colon wall and there is no lymph node metastasis, surgery is usually sufficient. In cases where the tumor goes beyond the wall or metastasizes to the lymph nodes, drug treatment (chemotherapy) will be required in addition to surgical treatment. If there is metastasis to distant organs, it is aimed to remove the diseased area as much as possible in these metastases. Postoperative drug therapy is a necessity in metastatic disease. If it is thought that metastases in the liver cannot be removed without leaving any diseased tissue in the preoperative evaluation, preoperative chemotherapy is applied to reduce the number and diameter of metastases so that it is possible to remove all of them. In cases where the disease in the colon also affects neighboring organs, these organs may also need to be removed during surgery. In order to prevent unnecessary organ removal, the diseased area is tried to be reduced by preoperative chemotherapy applications in this group of patients. Radiation therapy (radiotherapy) has no place in the treatment of colon cancer, except in special cases.

Before cancer tissue develops in the large intestine, bumps called polyps form in the inner surface of the intestine. These polyps can change over the years and turn into cancerous tissue. Polyps can be safely removed during colonoscopy when they are small before they show cancerous transformation, and this completely relieves the patient of disease. For this reason, it may be life-saving to have screening colonoscopies from the age of 40 and to remove possible polyps to be detected in the same session. It should be noted that the best treatment is early treatment. 

Colon cancers are classified according to their depth in the intestinal wall and spread (metastasis) to other organs, and the treatment is planned accordingly. The disease spreads locally to the lymph nodes in the large intestine mesentery, and distantly to the liver, lung, bone and brain, respectively. In cases where the disease is limited to the intestinal wall from time to time, only surgical treatment may be sufficient, if regional or distant metastases have developed, medication and radiation therapy are also used together with surgery.  _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_

Surgery, drug therapy (chemotherapy), and radiation therapy (radiotherapy) are used together in the treatment of all colon cancers. The stage of the disease is decisive in this regard. There are differences in treatment approaches between colon and rectum cancers.

Colon surgery can be performed in an open or closed (laparoscopic) way. Today, laparoscopy is the accepted surgical method in the surgical treatment of colon cancer. If the technical conditions of the hospital and the surgeon's experience are available, it should be performed laparoscopically.

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