Colon Cancer

Abstract

Colon Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Approximately 150,000 patients will die each year from this disease. Once a diagnosis of colon Cancer has been reached, the presence of synchronous neoplasms in other segments of the colon must be mied out. This can be accomplished with either colonoscopy or double air-contrast barium enema and should be performed pre-operatively on all patients provided the tumor is not obstructing. A baseline serum carcinogenic embryonic antigen (CEA) should be ob-tained. Many clinicians obtain computed tomograms of the liver preop-eratively in order to determine whether or not metastatic disease is pre-sent. However, this can be determined intraoperatively by palpation or by ultrasonography. In contrast to patients with rectal Cancer where there are non-invasive treatment modalities, patients with colon Cancer invariably require surgery, even in the presence of metastatic disease, especially if Symptoms such as bleeding and obstruction are present.