Colorectal Cancer

Sometimes, a person with rectal cancer may need to have a colostomy. This is a surgical opening, or stoma, through which the colon is connected to the abdominal surface to provide a pathway for waste to exit the body. This waste is collected in a pouch worn by the patient. Sometimes, the colostomy is only temporary to allow the rectum to heal, but it may be permanent.

For rectal cancer, radiation therapy may be used before surgery, called neoadjuvant therapy, to shrink the tumor so that it is easier to remove. It may also be used after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells, chemotherapy is often given at the same time as radiation therapy, called chemoradiation therapy, to increase the effectiveness of the radiation therapy.

Systemic therapy is the use of medication to destroy cancer cells. This type of medication is given through the bloodstream to reach cancer cells throughout the body. Systemic therapies are generally prescribed by a medical oncologist common way to give systemic therapies include an intravenous (IV) tube placed into a vein using a needle or in a pill or capsule that is swallowed (orally).

The types of systemic therapies used for colorectal cancer include:

• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy

As populations of useful bacteria decline over time, bowel-specific immunity and general immune system function deteriorate. The immune system’s overall ability to fight infection and cancer wanes, while inappropriate immune responses, including excessive inflammation, increase. CT can both boost appropriate infection- and cancer-fighting immune functions, and also help to suppress the inflammatory response when it gets out of control.

Autologous cancer vaccines have been studied extensively, with the most encouraging results noted in randomized, controlled clinical trials including more than 1,300 colorectal cancer patients in which tumor vaccines were given after surgery. These trials reported reduced recurrence rates and improved survival.

Hyperthermia involves the use of heat to directly treat a tumor or increase the vulnerability of cancer cells to other forms of treatment, such as immunotherapy, vitamin C, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

On one study colon adenocarcinoma cells demonstrated a promising decrease in cell viability after treatment with the low dose chemotherapy and heat.
Another study confirmed a potent anti-tumor efficacy caused combined thermo-chemotherapy.

Ozone therapy is an effective medical treatment for different diseases like mucositis, psoriasis, acute pain, neurovascular diseases, and cancer.

Studies have shown that ozone could be useful in colon cancer management in combination with nutraceuticals or LDQT w/ 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin with significant inhibition of cytokines having a central role in colon cancer cell survival and chemoresistance.

Comprehensive studies have linked a high intake of dietary or supplemental Folate and high blood Folate levels with a reduced risk of colon cancer. Folate and vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with depletion of the major intracellular antioxidant glutathione, and oxidative stress is emerging as an etiological mechanism for colon cancer.

Folate and vitamin B12 supplementation decreased the level of oxidative stress and ameliorated the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy. Also Folate and vitamin B12 supplementation combats carcinogen-induced oxidative stress.

An essential trace mineral, selenium is one of the most important cancer-fighting nutrients. Scientists have noted a statistically significant correlation between low soil concentrations of selenium and increased rates of colorectal cancer.

Selenium supplementation at the time of cancer surgery can increase local immune function, an effect that may reduce recurrence. There may also be synergistic effects of selenium with other nutrients such as Folate.

A clinical trial of 200 mcg of selenium versus placebo found that the incidence of colorectal cancer was significantly less in those taking selenium.

Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory compound that acts on NF-kB, a proinflammatory mediator that influences hundreds of genes involved in the growth and spread of cancer. In addition, Curcumin regulates tumor suppressor pathways and triggers mitochondrial-mediated death in cancer cells.

It also helps to starve tumors of their vital blood supply and it can oppose many of the processes that permit metastases to spread.

O3FA work in different pathways to combat and prevent colon cancer. Multiples studies show that the populations with a higher intake have a lower risk of developing colon cancer.

O3FA reduce the pro-tumor effects of many molecules involved in the growth and spread of colon cancer, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PDECGF), cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2), prostaglandin-E2 (PGE2), nitric oxide, NF-kB, matrix metalloproteinases and beta-catenin
Experiments have shown EPA and DHA can make cancer cells more vulnerable to damage from nutraceuticals, immunotherapy, chemotherapy and radiation, thus encouraging the cells to turn on cell death pathways in lieu of repair pathways.