How to reduce the recurrence rate of colorectal cancer surgery

A 47-year-old male patient felt abdominal pain and increased bowel movements some time ago. He was recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer and has undergone surgery. He is worried about recurrence. How can I reduce the recurrence rate of colorectal cancer after surgery?

The recurrence rate of colorectal cancer after surgery is as high as 30% to 40%, and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy can reduce this risk and improve the survival rate. However, from the clinical situation, many patients give up or find it difficult to adhere to a full course of adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery due to fear of the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. However, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is essential, and patients should not lose sight of the big picture and affect their prognosis.

Surgery is only the first step in the treatment of colorectal cancer. After surgery, patients also need to receive certain adjuvant chemotherapy according to the situation, because the growth of cancer cells in the patient's body is not fixed. It is like a seed that will spread to various parts of the body through the blood or lymph. Some of these seeds have "sprouted" and grown, and can be discovered by doctors and then surgically removed; some have just taken root in a certain part of the body and have not had time to grow; some are still in a dormant state and are not easy to detect and cannot be removed by surgery. Appropriate adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery can make up for the above defects. Chemotherapy drugs can reach various parts of the body through the blood and eliminate cancer cells that spread through the blood.