Metastatic Rectal Cancer
Metastatic Rectal Cancer
Metastatic Rectal Cancer occurs when cancer spreads from the large intestine and rectum to other areas of the body. This happens when rectal cancer cells break away from a tumor and spread through the blood or lymph system. The malignant cells then settle in new places and form new tumors.
Even when cancer has spread to a new place in the body and is no longer occurring in the large intestine or rectum, it is still classified and named after the location of the body where it first occurred. For example, if rectal cancer spreads to the liver, it is still called Metastatic Rectal Cancer (even though it is occurring in both the liver as well as the large intestine).
Treatment for Metastatic Rectal Cancer varies, depending on your age, overall health, and unique needs as a patient. While the liver is the most common area of the body to which rectal cancer spreads, Metastatic Rectal Cancer may occur in other areas of the body as well. When Metastatic Rectal Cancer is confined to the liver, or another single organ, your doctor may recommend a local treatment that targets the site of metastasis.
If the rectal cancer is metastatic, then surgery and radiation therapy would only be performed if persistent bleeding or bowel obstruction from the rectal mass exists. Otherwise, chemotherapy alone is the standard treatment of Metastatic Rectal Cancer. At this time, Metastatic Rectal Cancer is not curable.
Even though Metastatic Rectal Cancer is not curable, it is treatable. So much of the prognosis for any type of cancer is directly related to a person’s thinking and mindset. If you think positively, you are able to handle life with more ease and less stress, which are both excellent for your body. Your outlook definitely persuades your body’s response to treatment, even if there is not cure.