Colon Carcinoma

Cancer cells often transverse themselves to other parts of the body and affect the other organs too. It spreads to the adjoining or other nearby organs and this spread of colon caner is called colon carcinoma metastasis. The word metastasis means the spread of disease from one part of the body to another. It's only the infections and the malignant cells that can metastasize.

Colon carcinoma cells are more prone to metastasis as the colon adjoining organs like stomach, ovaries, liver, lungs, and rectum are very vulnerable. Cancer cells always have the tendency to break away and spill or leak from the primary site and enter the lymph nodes or blood vessels to travel to other sites. Once they settle there, they start to grow and affect the normal tissues of other organs too.

Metastasis varies in degree according to the type of cancer that one may be suffering from. Colon carcinoma refers to the growth of malignant tissues in your colon. It is also called bowel cancer where malignant cells grow in the colon, appendix and rectum area. If a person is suffering from colon cancer and metastasis occurs to organs like lungs or liver, he may start to experience some symptoms.

When the malignant cells move to the lungs and start to develop there, the patient starts to come across shortness of breath. If a patient confirmed with colon cancer experiences such symptoms, he or she may immediately inform the doctor.

Among the various organs that might experience the metastasis of colon cancer liver is the most vulnerable organ. Most deaths due to metastasis of colon cancer have been a result of severe liver damage. In case of liver metastasis, the patient would experience right upper abdominal pain or epigastric pain. Sometimes, there could also be symptoms of jaundice visible if the bile outflow is blocked by growing cells. Liver enlargement is a possibility too.

The metastasis of colon carcinoma also affects the treatment procedure. Any kind of cancer metastasis affects the survival chance and the treatments options. If the carcinoma cells travels to other parts and don't show any symptoms or development, the doctors may not be able to diagnose them. Even a single cell breaking away from the tumor can have a later affect.

There are various treatments that are applied in detecting metastasis cancer. The doctors may perform radiosurgery, biological therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation therapy or others. The choice of the treatment applicable depends a lot on the stage of the cancer.

So, if you have a patient in your home who is suffering from colon cancer it's very important that you keep a check on every symptom that the patient experiences, to detect if there is any metastasis taking place. Colon carcinoma metastasis could be very dangerous as it attacks the most vital organs of our body like liver and lungs and may further aggravate the problem.