chessamay wrote: you will never find a colon cancer pt getting radiation, because it can damage other structures and the colon is constantly undergoing perastalsis (movements in the bowel that aide in digestion).
weisssoccermom wrote:Catherine,
I'm well aware of the differences between colon and rectal cancer as well as the differences/similarities in their treatments.
I do think that saying that colon cancer doesn't generally metastize first to the brain is a more appropriate statement because of the handful of people on this board that I know have/had definitive brain mets, half are colon cancer and half are rectal cancer patients.
I would also say that NONE of the rectal cancer patients (that I know of) with brain mets had those mets before mets to either the liver, lungs, bones or some combination of those places. I think it's fair to say that IF a colorectal cancer patient has brain mets, they've almost exclusively had mets first to some other location
I also think it's a fair statement to say that once the cancer is pretty much all over your body (i.e. in multiple sites such as lung, liver, lymph nodes, bones, etc), it's not a stretch to believe that brain mets couldn't easily be next. Over the years, I've known eight members of this board who have had confirmed brain mets and they've all had the cancer spread throughout their body first so it really was no surprise that the cancer eventually reached the brain.
prtza wrote:chessamay wrote: you will never find a colon cancer pt getting radiation, because it can damage other structures and the colon is constantly undergoing perastalsis (movements in the bowel that aide in digestion).
Well, not never. I received 30 treatments of chemoradiation and I am being treated for colon cancer (descending/sigmoid).
But that was due to tumour invasion of the abdominal sidewall. And bone apparently.
EDIT:
From http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/ColonandRe ... -radiation
"The main use for radiation treatment in people with colon cancer is when the cancer has attached to an internal organ or the lining of the belly (abdomen). If this happens, the doctor can't be sure that all the cancer has been removed, and radiation is used to kill the cancer cells left behind after surgery"
The IP% of brain metastases for African Americans was significantly higher compared with the IP% for white patients, for lung, melanoma, and breast cancers, and was significantly lower for renal cancer (similar IP% seen by race for colorectal cancer). Men had similar or higher IP% of brain metastases compared with women, except for those individuals with primary lung cancer, for which the IP% was significantly higher for women. IP% of brain metastases was highest for those diagnosed at age 40 to 49 years with primary lung cancer; age 50 to 59 years with primary melanoma, renal, or colorectal cancers; and age 20 to 39 with primary breast cancer. The trends by age showed that the absolute frequency of brain metastases increased to a certain age and then decreased, although the age at which the absolute frequency peak occurred did not directly correlate with the age at which the peak in IP% occurred (Fig 1A and B). Individuals diagnosed with primary lung cancer at age 60 to 69 years showed the highest absolute frequency of brain metastases, but the peak IP% of brain metastases was seen for those diagnosed at age 40 to 49 years with primary lung cancer. Individuals diagnosed with primary melanoma at age 50 to 59 years had the highest absolute frequency and highest IP% of brain metastases, as did individuals in the same age range diagnosed with primary renal cancer. Individuals diagnosed with primary colorectal cancer at age 60 years and older had the highest absolute frequency of brain metastases, but individuals diagnosed at age 50 to 59 years had the highest IP%. Most surprising were the results for primary breast cancer, which showed that early-onset breast cancer cases (individuals diagnosed at age 20 to 39 years) had the highest IP% of brain metastasis, though the absolute frequency of breast cancer resulting in brain metastases was low in this group compared with other groups.
A statistically significant trend of increased IP% of brain metastases as SEER stage of primary cancer became more severe was seen for all primary sites; in other words, for all primary sites, those individuals with distant-stage primary cancer had the highest IP% of brain metastases. Of all individuals with distant-stage primary disease, those individuals with primary melanoma showed the highest IP% for brain metastases, which corroborates with previously reported data about the propensity of this disease to migrate to the brain. Peak absolute frequency of brain metastases and peak IP% of brain metastases perfectly correlated for patients with primary lung or renal cancer and distant-stage disease. Individuals with primary colorectal cancer had the lowest IP% of brain metastases for all stages of disease compared with the other primary sites studied.
weisssoccermom wrote:point is - cancer doesn't follow any rules. While there are standards throughout cancer treatments, nothing is written in stone.
Return to “Colon Talk - Colon cancer (colorectal cancer) support forum”
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 280 guests