Treatment for colorectal cancer may involve surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. Some people have a combination of treatments.
Colon cancer sometimes is treated differently from rectal cancer. Treatments for colon and rectal cancer are described separately.
At any stage of colorectal cancer, treatments are available to control pain and other symptoms, to relieve the side effects of therapy, and to ease emotional and practical problems. This kind of treatment is called supportive care, symptom management, or palliative care. Information about supportive care and coping with cancer is available on NCI's Web site at http://cancer.gov/cancerinfo/coping/ and from NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER.
