Treatment of Stage 0 Colorectal Cancer

Stage 0 colorectal cancer is usually treated with surgery:

• Excision - In many cases, the doctor can remove your tumor without cutting through your abdomen. This procedure is known as a local excision and is often done during a colonoscopy, when the doctor inserts a tube through the rectum and into the colon. If the doctor finds cancer in a small bulging piece of tissue (known as a polyp), then the procedure of removing the tumor is called a polypectomy.
• Resection - If the tumor is too large to be removed by excision, you might need more extensive surgery (known as resection). The doctor will remove the cancer and a small amount of the healthy tissue surrounding the cancer. Your doctor will usually sew the healthy parts of the colon together so that your bowel can continue to function normally. This procedure is known as anastomosis. In anastomosis, the doctor often removes lymph nodes near the colon and examines them under a microscope to find out if they have any cancer cells.

For stage 0 rectal cancer, radiation is sometimes used in addition to surgery, or even instead of surgery. The radiation is applied directly to the cancer through the rectum.