According to the 2017 data from the Hong Kong Cancer Registry, there were a total of 5,635 new cases of colorectal cancer, of which 23.5% were in stage 4, i.e., over 1,300 cases. Stage 4 colorectal cancer is considered late-stage and is regarded as a terminal illness in the past. However, with advances in technology and medicine, some cases of late-stage colorectal cancer can still be cured.
The most common site for bowel cancer to spread is the liver, followed by the lungs. In some cases, bowel cancer has spread to a small part of the liver or lungs, rather than spreading widely. The current common practice is to conduct multi-team consultations. In addition toOncologists, it may also include liver doctors, thoracic and lung doctors, etc., to meet and discuss individual cases to determine the most suitable diagnosis and treatment plan. Secondly, if patients with advanced bowel cancer are suitable for diagnosis and treatment, they will generally receive adjuvant chemotherapy after diagnosis and treatment, hoping to minimize the risk of recurrence.
If bowel cancer spreads to a large area, doctors may not necessarily recommend diagnosis and treatment.Chemotherapy, targeted drugs, etc. are mainly used to control the disease. In recent years, the types of chemotherapy drugs have greatly increased than in the past. There are oral and injectable drugs, and different chemotherapy drugs can be used in combination to increase the efficacy. The efficacy of chemotherapy plus targeted drugs is often better than the use of chemotherapy drugs alone. Many patients with advanced bowel cancer have longer survival periods using chemotherapy plus targeted drugs.
New treatments for advanced bowel cancer cannot fail to mention immunotherapy. Initially it was mostly used for lung cancer, but recently it has been used for intestinal cancer. Cancer cells are very cunning and will disguise themselves as normal cells in the body, making it impossible for the immune system to recognize them and therefore unable to attack them. Immunotherapy does not directly kill cancer cells, but removes their disguise so that the patient's immune system can recognize the cancer cells and then destroy them. Of course, immunotherapy is not suitable for every patient with advanced colorectal cancer and must be tested first, but it finally provides one more hope for patients with advanced colorectal cancer.
The author is oncologist Dr. Ng Kim Pong
Sources:https://bit.ly/33fHsBY
