Almost 1.4 million cases of colon cancer are diagnosed each year. Sometimes, the growth can be removed. In advanced cases, part of the colon needs to be taken out and the patient must rely on a colostomy bag to collect solid waste. A new and exciting development was recently announced at the world’s biggest cancer conference: colon cancer patients might avoid a colostomy bag if they have an expandable tube, or stent, inserted at the site of the colon blockage.
Because colon cancer often has no symptoms in the early stages, a large percentage of colon cancers go undetected until the tumor obstructs the bowel and the patient needs emergency surgery. Compared to routine surgery, emergency surgery means that the patient may be in worse health and have higher risk for complications. The death rate increases from 2 percent for planned surgery to 12 percent for emergency surgery.
The stent has many benefits. When it is inserted, the stent is just 3 mm in diameter. When exposed to body heat, it expands over the next two days until it reaches 2.5 cm in diameter and makes a new passageway through the intestines.
Cancer Research UK organized a trial on 250 patients. Half of the patients were treated with conventional surgery, but others were treated with the expandable stent. The tumor was removed when the intestines healed.
The survival rates of the two groups were the same, but there was a significant difference between the need for a colostomy bag. For the traditional surgery patients, 69 percent of them needed a colostomy bag. For the patients who were treated with the stent, 45 percent of them needed a colostomy bag. The results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago.
Professor James Hill led the clinical trial. He responded to the study by saying, "Traditionally doctors have worried that unblocking the bowel in this way could increase the chance of cancer spreading, but our early results don't show this. We're also pleased to see that this could be a way of reducing the risk of patients needing a colostomy bag after their surgery, which is a huge improvement to patients' day-to-day lives."
More studies are necessary in three years to determine how the expandable stent impacts survival and patient care. The best news is that the stent does not increase the risk of the cancer spreading, and it is often a good alternative to a permanent stoma (Source: BBC News).
