4th stage of bowel cancer

No one wants to select to hear a diagnosis of last or 4th-stage bowel cancer. It is neither easy to treat nor easy to deal with it, but have to understand, symptoms have to be covered day by day with the medical treatment and motivation of patients, which is the main factor in recovering the patient.

 

Bowel cancer in which includes the colon and rectal part of the intestine, there are different stages in bowel cancer i.e., stages 1,2, 3, and 4, here we discuss the 4th stage of bowel cancer, in which cancer particles spread to different parts of the body, including liver or lungs, etc.

 

STAGES:

It is subdivided into 3 stages. by which doctors differentiate its severity.

 4A,4B, and 4C

 

STAGE 4A BOWEL CANCER:

Stage 4A bowel cancer may spread from one organ to another organ such as the liver, but not the peritoneum abdominal wall will be involved. Cancer particles spread through the bloodstream or lymphatic system.

 
STAGE 4B BOWEL CANCER:

Stage 4B bowel cancer means a cancer particle involved 2 or more of its, organs but it doesn’t involve the abdominal peritoneum wall.

 

STAGE 4C BOWEL CANCER:

Stage 4C bowel cancer involves different organs but specifically involves the peritoneum abdominal layer.

 

TNM STAGES:

Doctors differentiate colon or bowel cancer in stages according to the involvement of its cancer particles in different parts of the body. we categorize its stage son TNM stage  T for tumor, N for lymph node, and M for metastasis.

 

In Stage A, bowel tumor cells T, N & M1a

In Stage B, bowel tumor cells T, N & M1b

In Stage C bowel tumor cells T, N & M1c

 

4th stage of colon cancer is a level of cancer in which the treatment will be failed, and cancer cell involvement increases day by day. The main task is that we have to limit these cancer cells and stop them to spread it.

SYMPTOMS OF 4-STAGE BOWEL CANCER:

The 4th stage of bowel cancer involves the back portion of the rectum and the large bowel means the colon is called colorectal cancer and the involvement of other organs started in this stage of the disease.

The symptoms of a patient are the same when he was only 1-3 stages of cancer, which is related to bowel habits. But when a patient is in the 4th stage of cancer and involved other parts of the body so symptoms are different.

 

symptoms of 4th stage of bowel cancer

 

General symptoms:

Bowel cancer patient symptoms may include an alteration patient’s normal bowel to bloody stools. it’s important to visit your doctor and examine per rectal bleeding.

 

  •          Per rectal bleeding or bloody stools
  •        Loose motions or constipation
  •          The lump can be felt by the doctor in per rectal examination

  •          Sudden weight loss history

  •          Abdominal pain or backache
  •          Weakness or tiredness          
  •          Shortness of breath and dizziness due to anemia

 

Symptoms occur if cancer involved the liver:

  •          Pain in the right side of the abdomen and discomfort abdomen
  •          Sickness
  •          Loss of appetite and weight loss
  •          Jaundice appearance
  •          Abdomen swelling calling ascites
  •          Skin itching

Symptoms occur if cancer involved the lungs:

  •          Shortness of breath
  •          Cough
  •          Oxygen saturation drop
  •          Constant chest infection
  •          hemoptysis (cough with blood)
  •          pleural effusion

Symptoms occur if cancer is involved in the bones:

  •              Lethargic
  •          Nausea
  •          constipation
  •          Hypercalcemia
  •          Severe body aches
  •          Severe bone pain in the affected area
  •          Restless and confusion
  •          Thirst

 

HOW LONG PATIENT LIVES IN 4TH STAGE OF BOWEL CANCER:

As with other cancer diseases,the end life of bowel cancer patients is unpredictable. It can be long life until the treatment and prognosis are failed.

In bowel cancer metastasis stage 4 patients, the survival rate for 5 years is almost 14%. According to researchers, the survival ratio of patients with metastatic bowel cancer has exceeded from 8 to 14 months more or in some cases exceeded 2 years more. Treatment may help patients to live a longer and better life.

 

TREATMENT OF BOWEL CANCER:

The treatment for 4TH stage bowel cancer may include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or new immunotherapies. The only aim is that after all these treatments, is to decrease the number of cancer patients or improve their symptoms. Immunotherapies help your immune system stop the growth of cancer cells. Many patients have to be used 2-3 tablets.

There is no option for surgery at this level, even though surgery to extract cancer cells from the liver may be helpful.

The doctor should have given medication to control abdominal pain, as per need. If the patient’s cancer cells grow, the doctor may prescribe strong opioids. Anti-nausea drugs are usually prescribed when the side effects of chemotherapy happened. If cancer cells involved the lungs, the patient might be used on oxygen as per saturation.

TREATMENT OF 4TH STAGE BOWEL(COLON) CANCER:

Your doctor should recommend:

· chemotherapy I/v or oral, dependent on the patient’s condition

· radiotherapy in a specific area

· surgery, if possible, of the affected part

· targeted cancer medicine

TREATMENT OF 4TH-STAGE BOWEL (RECTAL) CANCER:

Your doctor should recommend:

  1. chemotherapy I/v or oral, dependent on the patient’s condition
  2. radiotherapy in a specific area
  3. surgery, if possible, of the affected part
  4. chemoradiotherapy (chemo with radiotherapy at a
    time)
  5. targeted cancer medicine

AFTER ALL TREATMENTS:

Oncologists should treat your bowel cancer with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, or medication. When all these treatments happened, the patient recovered from that phase.

After it, an oncologist review must be done. Patient follow-ups with an oncologist should be done after every few months. The main reason why the doctor wants to see the recurrence of the cancer cell is. Because it frequently happens, there are a lot of chances that the 4th stage of cancer couldn’t remove completely, and doctors tried their best for the patient. But no doctor takes guarantees to remove 100% of cancer cells in the 4th stage of bowel cancer.

Every cancer cell is unpredictable, it can grow anytime even in 5-7 years. The patient should do checkups with the doctor regularly and notice on an urgent basis its initial symptoms if it happened.

The patient should try to cure and make his immune system strong to fight against each cell. So, follow these important tips.

 Regularly eat a balanced and healthy diet

Try to maintain your weight

Do exercise regularly

Stop smoking on an urgent basis