Avoid excessive chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer

Surgery is the undisputed main method for the treatment of colorectal cancer. However, many colorectal cancer patients are already in the late stage when they are discovered, or they enter the late stage after the previous treatment is ineffective. At this time, the tumor has spread and metastasized, and surgery is often ineffective. At this time, chemotherapy becomes the most important treatment method.

For patients with advanced colorectal cancer, chemotherapy can be said to be the most important treatment. However, since it is in the advanced stage, it is obviously not easy to completely cure the tumor. For most patients, they may have to live with the tumor. Some people believe that as long as this "bomb" remains in the body, it is necessary to continuously attack and suppress it. As long as colorectal cancer continues, chemotherapy will not stop. However, some people also say that overtreatment is worse than too little.

Chemotherapy is the main treatment for patients with advanced colorectal cancer. Generally, after 4 to 6 courses of treatment, if the tumor is under control, which is what doctors call benefit, chemotherapy is stopped and not continued. Wait until the tumor shows signs of rising before taking further action, such as choosing second-line chemotherapy or other palliative treatments.

The reason why chemotherapy cannot be over-treated is that if chemotherapy is continued, it may not remove the tumor more thoroughly. Instead, it may induce the tumor to develop drug resistance and cause immunosuppression. More obviously, the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs may continue to accumulate and intensify, which is not conducive to the patient's survival.