Colon cancer treatment
Colon cancer treatment often involves surgery to remove cancer. Surgery may be combined with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy.
Medical review by Mayo Clinic Staff
Updated: April 14, 2025
Colon cancer treatments include a range of options, depending on the cancer’s stage and spread.
Surgery
Colon cancer treatment usually involves surgery to remove the cancer. Your healthcare team might recommend other treatments, such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy. Your treatment options depend on the cancer’s location and its stage. Your healthcare team also considers your overall health and your preferences when creating a treatment plan.
- Polypectomy. For small colon cancer that has not spread beyond the colon, the only treatment needed might be a minimally invasive approach, such as polypectomy. A polypectomy involves removing polyps with tools during a colonoscopy. If the cancer is contained within a polyp, removing the polyp may remove all the cancer.
During a polypectomy, specialized tools are placed through a flexible tube called a colonoscope, which is guided into the colon to remove the polyp from the colon's lining.
Colectomy. If colon cancer has grown into or through the colon, all or part of the colon may be removed. Surgery to remove part of the colon is called partial colectomy. Surgery to remove the entire colon is called a total colectomy. During colectomy, the surgeon removes the part of the colon that has the cancer. The surgeon also takes some tissue on either side of the cancer. It’s often possible to reconnect the healthy portions of the colon or rectum.
Colectomy often can be done using a minimally invasive surgery called laparoscopy. In laparoscopy, a surgeon performs the operation through several small cuts called incisions in the abdominal wall. Instruments with attached cameras go through the cuts and show the colon on a video monitor. The surgeon also may take samples from lymph nodes in the area around the cancer.
A colectomy is a surgical procedure to remove all or part of the colon, after which the remaining healthy sections are typically reconnected, allowing stools to pass through the colon as usual.
Ostomy procedure. Sometimes it’s not possible to reconnect the healthy portions of the colon or rectum after colectomy. The surgeon creates an opening in the wall of the abdomen from a portion of what’s left of the intestine. This procedure, called an ostomy, allows stool to leave the body by emptying into a bag that fits over the opening. Colostomy and ileostomy are common ostomy procedures used in colon cancer treatment.
Sometimes the ostomy stays only for a short time to let the colon or rectum heal after surgery. Then it’s reversed. Sometimes the ostomy can’t be reversed and stays for life.
During colostomy surgery, an opening is made in the belly called a stoma. Part of the colon is brought through the stoma and attached to a pouch outside the body. Stools then pass through the stoma and go into the pouch.
Surgery to relieve symptoms
When it’s not possible to remove the cancer with surgery, a surgeon might use surgery to relieve symptoms rather than cure the cancer. This surgery can remove colon blockages and ease symptoms, such as bleeding or pain.
Surgery for cancer spread
Colon cancer that has spread to other parts of the body is called metastatic colon cancer. It most often spreads to the liver or lung. But it can spread to other places, such as the brain, distant lymph nodes or the peritoneum, which is the lining of the abdominal cavity.
Surgery or other localized treatments might remove cancer from distant areas. Chemotherapy might be used before or after this type of procedure. Using a combination of surgery and chemotherapy may provide a chance to be free of cancer over the long term.
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Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses strong medicines to kill colon cancer cells. Chemotherapy for colon cancer may be given in the following situations:
- After colon cancer surgery. Chemotherapy usually is given after surgery if the cancer is large or has spread to the lymph nodes. Chemotherapy can kill cancer cells that might be left after surgery. This helps reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Chemotherapy given after surgery is called adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Before colon cancer surgery. Chemotherapy might be used before surgery to shrink a large cancer so that it’s easier to remove. Chemotherapy given before surgery is called neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
- If surgery is not an option. Chemotherapy can be used to relieve symptoms and slow down the growth of colon cancer that can’t be removed with surgery or that has spread to other areas of the body. Sometimes it’s used with radiation therapy.
Focused chemotherapy for metastatic colon cancer
Specialized chemotherapy treatments may be used to treat colon cancer that has spread beyond the colon, called metastatic cancer:
- Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, also called HIPEC. This is a combination cancer treatment. It’s used for cancer limited to the abdominal cavity lining, called the peritoneum. In this treatment, all the cancer is first surgically removed from the peritoneum. Then the cavity is bathed with hot chemotherapy to kill any microscopic cancer cells that remain.
- Hepatic artery infusion pump therapy, also called HAIP therapy. This therapy targets colon cancer that has spread to the liver. The process starts with the surgical implantation of a small pump under the skin, typically in the belly. This pump delivers chemotherapy to the liver through an attached catheter that is placed in a branch connected to the liver’s main artery. The liver’s main artery is called the hepatic artery.
Hepatic artery infusion pump therapy: Surgical treatment for colon cancer that has spread to the liver
Targeted therapy
Targeted therapy uses medicines that attack certain chemicals in cancer cells. By blocking these chemicals, targeted treatments can cause cancer cells to die.
Targeted therapy usually is combined with chemotherapy. Targeted therapy typically is used for people with advanced colon cancer.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a treatment with medicine that helps the body’s immune system kill cancer cells. The immune system fights off diseases by attacking germs and other cells that shouldn’t be in the body. Cancer cells survive by hiding from the immune system. Immunotherapy helps the immune system cells find and kill the cancer cells.
Immunotherapy usually is used only for people with a special type of colon cancer.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses powerful energy beams to kill cancer cells. The energy can come from X-rays, protons or other sources.
When surgery isn’t an option, radiation therapy might be used to relieve symptoms, such as pain. Some people have radiation and chemotherapy at the same time.
Palliative care
Palliative care is a special type of healthcare that focuses on relieving pain and other symptoms of a serious illness. Palliative care involves a team of healthcare professionals. The team can include doctors, nurses and other specially trained professionals. Their goal is to improve the quality of life for people with serious illnesses and their families.
Palliative care is an extra layer of support during cancer treatment. When palliative care is used with other cancer treatments, people with cancer may feel better and live longer.
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Coping and support
It can be hard to cope with a cancer diagnosis. In time, people learn to cope in their own ways. Until you find what works for you, you might try to:
- Learn enough about your cancer to make treatment decisions. Ask your healthcare team about the type and stage of your cancer, as well as your treatment options and their side effects. The more you know, the more you’ll be able to take part in decisions about your care. Ask your healthcare team to recommend other sources of information, such as websites you can trust.
- Keep friends and family close. Keeping people you care about close to you can help you deal with cancer. Friends and family can help you take care of things if you’re in the hospital. And they can offer you support when you feel like you have too much to handle.
Find someone to talk with. Find a good listener who will listen to you talk about your hopes and fears. This may be a friend or family member. Talking to a counselor, medical social worker, clergy member or cancer support group also might be helpful.
Ask your healthcare team about support groups in your area or contact a cancer organization, such as the National Cancer Institute or the American Cancer Society.
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Preparing for your appointment
If you have colon cancer, you’ll likely be sent to specialists who treat the disease. You might meet with:
- A doctor who treats digestive diseases, called a gastroenterologist.
- A doctor who uses medicines to treat cancer, called an oncologist.
- A doctor who removes colon cancer using surgery, called a surgeon or surgical oncologist.
- A doctor who uses radiation to treat cancer, called a radiation oncologist.
Here’s some information to help you get ready for your appointment.
What you can do
Ask a family member or friend to go to your appointment with you. This person can help you remember the information you’re told.
Make a list of:
- Your symptoms and when they began.
- Key medical information, including other conditions you have and your family medical history.
- All medicines, vitamins or supplements you take, including doses.
- Questions to ask your healthcare team.
Some basic questions to ask include:
- Where in my colon is my cancer?
- What is the stage of my colon cancer?
- Can you explain the lab report of my cancer to me?
- Can I have a copy of my lab report?
- Has my colon cancer spread? Where to?
- Will I need more tests?
- What are the treatment options for my colon cancer?
- What is the chance that my colon cancer can be cured?
- What are the potential side effects of each treatment?
- How will each treatment affect my daily life?
- How much time can I take to decide about treatment?
- Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take with me? What websites do you recommend?
What to expect from your doctor
Be prepared to answer some basic questions about your symptoms, such as:
- Have your symptoms been ongoing, or do they come and go?
- How bad are your symptoms?
- What, if anything, seems to improve your symptoms?
- What, if anything, appears to worsen your symptoms?
Mayo Clinic’s approach to treating colon cancer
The experts at Mayo Clinic are leading the way in colon cancer treatment. From excelling at standard treatments to inventing new ones, our team is bringing the treatments of tomorrow to patients today.
We are also a National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, which means our physicians are researchers. They are involved with cutting-edge research and clinical trials that help all people with colon cancer access the latest treatment options.
At Mayo Clinic, you can expect expert colon cancer care delivered with compassion. Your team is focused on you. They work together, applying their expertise to your situation and collaborating as a team. So while your team fights your colon cancer, you can focus on healing.
“We are offering the latest approaches to treating colon cancer, including chemotherapies, immunotherapies and advanced surgical approaches. We can even perform a liver transplant for some patients whose cancer has spread to the liver. Our goal is to enhance the care options available for people with colon cancer.”
Jeremy Jones, M.D.
Mayo Clinic medical oncologist and hematologist
You can also contact our helpful scheduling teams by calling:
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